


Destiny: Plagues of Darkness

by The_Virtual_Warlock



Series: Destiny Alternate Universe [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 52,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24359380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Virtual_Warlock/pseuds/The_Virtual_Warlock
Summary: Max Prodigy is finally awake; his past memories have been restored and he realizes his true potential as The Warlock. But his teammates aren't so sure: Cass thinks he's breaking the law as an uncontrollable monster, while Jess, Kaden, and Shin want him to be his honest self. To make matters worse, Lysander and his Concordat have awakened an ancient project known as SIVA from the bowels of the Cosmodrome. The project has spread itself into every corner of Old Russia, threatening to overtake the world, with Lysander at the throne.On the Hive Dreadnought, Oryx heard his son's last words before his untimely death at the hands of Max Prodigy. With anger and hatred fueling his Sword, Ecthar the Willbreaker, and a mindless Taken army at his beckoned call, the newly appointed Taken King marches to avenge his son and bring about a new universe under his rule.And underneath all of that, darker plots unfold as an old Cabal Legion begins to rise from its ashes. Max must keep the City united through its perils, but will he have the strength to do what's right, again?
Series: Destiny Alternate Universe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685533





	1. Prologue

Oryx stood in His Altar, His three green eyes from his magnificent, dark magenta head were overlooking the Rings of Saturn that He currently occupied with a giant, diamond prism that He calls His Dreadnought. His crimson wings were folded behind His back, and His dark gray diamond horns that represented His crown were resonating with power. On either side of the Dreadnought, a large circle occupies the exact middle, one of the few weapons that Oryx uses on His ship, and one of the greatest, second only to Him. He stared out on the starboard side after getting bored with the yellow gas giant Saturn on the port side. At first, there was nothing but the blackness of space, dotted by tiny white stars. _If only those stars were to collapse on themselves, or filled with Dark Soulfire,_ He said to Himself, _then this universe would be a paradise._ The only things that caught His attention were His battleships, large Hive starships that formed rhombal pyramids always pointing forward, and orbiting the most important of Hive ships, His Dreadnought being one of them.

Suddenly, an Eliksni ship appeared out of nowhere on the starboard side, only a few megameters from the Dreadnought. A female voice called out across the vacuum of space, "This is Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken. You are trespassing on my territory, and are sentenced to life in the Prison of Elders. Stand down."

Oryx laughed, then cast His own voice across the vacuum, "PUNY MARA SOV! YOU MADE A MISTAKE COMING HERE! I AM ORYX, KING OF THE TAKEN, GOD OF THE HIVE! STAND OUT OF MY WAY, OR BE DESTROYED!"

Mara answered with, "Consider your sentence upgraded to the 'death penalty'." Thousands of Awoken Crow Fighter and Crow Bomber ships were deployed from the Queen's Ketch, all flying in attack formations.

Oryx growled, "ATTACK!" Thousands of Hive Tombships were deployed from the Dreadnought's side openings, while hundreds of thousands of smaller Agonarch Karve fighters were deployed from the long slits on the top and bottom of the Dreadnought. The Karve and Crow fighters engaged one another, exchanging blows and fire. The Crow bombers were flying in for an attack round on one of the battleships, protected by the fighters. The Crows, led by Uldren Sov, flew in for another 5 attack runs, each one targeted a different battleship. Oryx ordered the other 34 battleships to the Dreadnought's starboard, prompting the Crows to attack them all. The Taken King growled as He held out His Sword, absorbing all of the battleships' leftover power and souls. _This 'Mara Sov' is starting to annoy me!_

The Awoken Queen stood in the center of her bridge, her three Techeuns stood behind her, ready for whatever she commands. Mara turned to them and said, "Do it."

Shuro Chi, the eldest Techeun warned, "But Mara, the Harbingers are not ready!"

"Did I stutter?" she ordered.

The Techeuns gulped and stood around Mara, leaving the front open to her gaze. The Queen closed her eyes stretched out her hands toward the Dreadnought and her mind into the Void, the Techeuns spread their hands apart horizontally, and 9 giant purple orbs swirling with Light and Darkness appeared in front of the Ketch; the Queen's Harbingers have arrived. Mara sent the orbs straight into the Dreadnought, tearing up any Tombship and Agonarch Karve in their way. Mara fainted in Shuro's arms, just as the Harbingers hit the starboard of the Dreadnought. Surprisingly, the Harbingers failed to inflict any damage to the giant Hive ship. Mara woke up and stared at the Dreadnought in awe, "What!? Why isn't the Dreadnought destroyed!?"

Oryx laughed as He absorbed all of the Harbingers' energy into His Sword, Ecthar the Willbreaker. "YOU MAY HAVE ADOPTED THE DARKNESS, BUT I," He shouted across the vacuum, "I WAS BORN IN IT!" He thrust His Sword down into the Altar's ground, activating the circles on either side of His Dreadnought, detonating a Darkness Blast of poisonous blue, green, purple, and black. It was clear to Mara what He did, _He absorbed the Harbingers!_ She ordered all of the Awoken to retreat, but it was too late: the blast had consumed all of the Crows, all of the Awoken within its reach, even the Queen's Ketch. Mara closed her eyes and accepted her fate as the Darkness tore through her body and her Techeuns, transforming them into darkened versions of themselves. Mara opened her "eyes" again, finding herself with all of the other Awoken, all of them were taken by the Darkness blast. She and all of the other Taken Awoken bowed before their new King on the Dreadnought.

* * *

Erik "Lysander" Larsen stood before a metal diamond door. Whatever few followers he had, they stood behind him, a few were unaware of the dangers he was about to unleash. He opened the doors, grinning like a mad man, revealing a dark chamber infected by crimson tentacles that rose from and buried themselves into the metal floor.

"What's going on?" one of the followers asked to another.

"This," answered Larsen, "is our salvation from Max, from those who would see us dead!"

"And who is Max?"

Erik marched over to the Concordat soldier that asked the question, "Max Prodigy is our greatest enemy. He alone nuked my empire and destroyed any chance of repairing it. My scar is evidence of that! And now that he's back and his memories are reclaimed, he seeks to kill me again!" Erik leaned closer, displaying overbearing power, "Which side are you on, soldier?"

The follower mumbled, "Yours, sir..."

"Hmm, really?" A crimson tentacle stabbed the scared follower in the heart, infecting him with small nanobots that turned him into a cyborg with black and crimson plates growing from his skin. The rest of the Concordat was so scared that they began to run, but the diamond doors closed them in the chamber. Larsen grinned, "As I said, which side are you on? Because it won't matter in a few minutes. You'll all be MINE!" More tentacles shot from the ground and stabbed more members of the Concordat, all except for Larsen. As soon as all of the followers were infected, Erik commanded, "Now go into the Cosmodrome! Consume, enhance, and replicate everything in your path!"

* * *

Primus Ta'aun slouched with his hands covering his Cabal face. "This is torture! First Valus Tha'aurn, then Ta'aurc, Sha'aul, AND now the Flayers!?" His campaign on Sol 4, what the Human Race calls Mars, was failing because of the encroaching Guardians

Valui Tlu'urn and Mua'aul sat opposite him, their armored gear resting beside them. Mua'aul, who favored up-close and personal attacks with his heavy red armor, responded with "Sir, we managed to kill 70 of these dead soldiers."

"Sure, and every soldier of theirs that we kill, we lose 1000 of our own, including Fleet Commanders! And how many Cabal have we lost!?"

Tlu'urn preferred to deal with his enemies at a distance with his teal armor, and was often the quiet one of the three bond brothers. He remarked "Over 700,000."

"And the numbers keep rising, thanks to these Guardians!" Ta'aun rotated a screen towards his bond brothers, frustrated at defeat. "Max Prodigy, Lilianna Qu'lene, Asher Mir, Jess Qu'lene, Cassandra Razar, and an Exo named Kaden-2! These 'Guardians' have broken our Exclusion Zone and brought in a horde of their kin, and since then we have been nothing more than fish in a-"

Alarms blared all over the base as Valus Vro'orun burst into the room. "Primus!" she said, her white armor reflected the red alarm lights in the hallways, "We're under attack!"

"By what? Vex?"

"No, sir!"

"Guardians!?"

"WORSE!" She opened the door, revealing a hallway full of dark, viscous puddles. "What's worse is that some of our soldiers have been..." she stumbled for her words, "...TAKEN!"

Mua'aul abruptly arose and asked, "Taken? How?" A Phalanx suddenly appeared in the hallway, but its appearance had changed, like it is being consumed by Darkness and its soul corrupted by an omniscient force. Where its face once was, there was only a singular, hungry eye. The Phalanx raised its shield, which now held a glowing vortex in its center, charging a blast capable of sending all four commanders into a wall and snapping their necks. Everyone's eyes widened.

Vro'orun shut the door just in time and said, "They look like that!"

Ta'aun had seen enough. "This is Primus Ta'aun!" he shouted into the comms, "Everyone must evacuate to the Dantalion Exodus VI! This is a Crimson Red Alert, I repeat, this is a Crimson Red Alert! The Dantalion will leave in two hours!" He turned to the Valui, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," said Tlu'urn, strapping his armor onto his body.

"Yes," said Mua'aul, forcing the red armor to cover his limbs and head.

"Always," said Vro'orun, already loading her weapon.

The Primus strapped on his gauntlets and said, "Alright, let's go!"

The four of them grabbed the rest of their weapons and gear, and fought against their corrupted kin, all the while running to their ship. Mua'aul charged headlong at near lightning speed into a Taken Centurion, impaling it and hitting each of its sides into the ground in an arc. Tlu'urn fired his Mortar at any Taken Cabal that came too close to him or his friends. Vro'orun lobbed her rocket-propelled grenades at the Taken Psions and Ta'aun provided cover fire while they moved to the ship. The Three Valui ran into the ship just in time, and the Dantalion flew away from Firebase Korus in a speedy exodus.


	2. Untamed Fear

Max was flying to Phobos as quickly as he could. A few hours ago, Vanguard scouts were reporting dark anomalies spiking on the closest moon to Mars, not knowing what they were. What followed the anomalies were Cabal distress signals blasting on every single channel, and a large Cabal ship escaping their base. Max, fearing the worst, went alone to Phobos to investigate, with only Ikora Rey talking in his ear. "Be careful," she warned, "My Hidden have reported multiple dark anomalies around and inside the base."

Max ignored this and said, "Okay then." He kept moving through the Cabal Firebase, taking note of the absence of living Cabal and splatter of dark spectral goo on the floors, walls, and ceilings. He stared at one of the splotches, trying to figure out what the heck it was. As soon as he touched the goo, it felt like it was some kind of thick, syrupy, oil that suddenly caught on fire. "YOW!" he screamed through his helmet, "It burns!!" But when he looked at his hand and the goo he put it in, he noticed that neither were burning. "Weird..."

Suddenly, the power to the base was cut, Max rose, grabbing his yellow gun that he got from the Vault of Glass. Its aesthetic was mostly curved, its zoom lens looked similar to a Vex's eye, and the barrel shot individual solar bolts instead of bullets. Max, in his recent adventures to the planets of the solar system, called this weapon the Vex Mythoclast. And now, he trusted it more than anything.

He slowly moved down the hall and around each corner, carefully, cautiously. Lights flashed in front of him, casting quick shadows of a Centurion struggling for dear life, but struggling against what? The shadows didn't say. Another light flashed behind him, he turned around to find a Legionary falling on his face, right in front of The Warlock. Max screamed in fear, then slowly approached the dead Cabal. Max leaned in for a closer look, curious as to what killed the Cabal. The Legionary grabbed Max by arm and squealed, "He is here! He is here!"

Max almost screamed before asking, "Who? Who is here!?"

"Eeeeeeviiiilllllll..." said the dying Cabal, "The...Face...of...Eeeeeviiillll..." and the Legionary died.

Now Max was freaked out, _Whoever this "Face of Evil"_ _is, he's scaring me._

"Max?" Ikora asked, her voice was now masked by white noise, "Max, can you hear me?... Get out...now..." and she was gone.

"Ikora? Ikora!?" Max tapped his helmet, then turned a small knob on the side to control the radio. Nothing worked. _What is going on?_ He kept advancing, despite his heart pounding with fear. His Ghost warned, "Perhaps we ought to turn around?"

Max shook his head, "No, we need to find out what cut my comms line, and who we are up against."

"I was afraid you would say that," the Ghost mumbled.

Max wandered into a large circular room in the middle of the Firebase, and that's when a high-pitched shrieking sound resonated throughout the base. Max covered his ears, turning his head away to hide his vulnerability.

A large image of a horizontal-horned Hive God filled the middle of the room, "MAX PRODIGY!" the image shouted. Max refused to look the image as it accused him. "YOU TOOK MY ONLY SON AWAY FROM ME! SO NOW, I WILL TAKE YOU!!!" The image disappeared, leaving a giant black and white Knight in its wake. Max shivered in fear, the Knight roared, opening its head to spit out 5 fireballs at The Warlock. Max dodged all of the fireballs, then returned fire to the Knight. The Knight absorbed every single shot from Max's Mythoclast, and the Warlock widened his eyes. _New rules: RUN!_ And he did!

Max ran out of the room, back the way he came, the Dark Twisted Knight following behind him, spitting more fireballs to block his path; Max jumped over each of the fireballs' remnants until he reached outside. Then, he tripped on a small crater, falling down and cracking his helmet. The armor's UI blared red warning lights with holographic text declaring, "WARNING! OXYGEN LEAK DETECTED!" Max was running out of breath as the Knight closed in. He fell back, drew the Mythoclast again, and fired. The Knight opened its head one more time, and to Max's luck, one of the Mythoclast's molten bolts of energy hit the Knight in the opened head, burning it 'alive'. Max breathed a sigh of relief as the Dark Knight exploded from the inside out.

Then, more growls were heard in the distance. Max stared up and through his warning bells to find darkened Cabal of all ranks, Legionnaires, Phalanxes, Centurions, Psions, and even Colossi. The Warlock's eyes bulged, "Ghost! Get us out of here!"

"With pleasure!" The Ghost summoned Max's ship and transported both of them inside. Max steered the ship away from Phobos, but a Dark Colossus fired a volley of missiles at the fleeing Guardian, damaging the ship and causing it to plummet to the surface of Mars.

Max screamed into the radio, "MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS OMEGA LEADER, MAX PRODIGY! I'VE BEEN SHOT AND I'M FALLING ONTO THE MARTIAN SURFACE! REQUESTING ASSISTANCE! I REPEAT: REQUESTING-" The ship hit the Martian red sands outside the buried Clovis Bray facility in the lost city of Freehold. Max fell unconscious on impact.

* * *

The Taken Colossus who shot down Max Prodigy looked beyond the edge of the Phobos Firebase, staring at the surface of Mars. It stared at the small explosion of sand caused by the ship's crash-land, confident that Max was dead. "REPORT!" A voice boomed behind the Colossus.

All the Taken Cabal turned to face a pitch-black figure of Oryx and bowed, their white eyes piercing the darkness of their bodies and souls, "Sire," The Colossus softly growled, "Max is dead. He crashed into the planet's surface below.

The Echo of Oryx frowned, "NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I WANT YOU TO GO DOWN TO MARS AND MAKE SURE HE STAYS DEAD!"

"At once, my king."

The Echo disappeared, then the Taken Cabal also disappeared, transporting themselves to the Martian desert, searching for Max.

* * *

The Dantalion Exodus left Phobos' orbit at alarming speeds, slamming all Cabal into their seats, regardless of rank. Once they were far away from Mars, Ta'aun stood up on the bridge and said, "Establish a link with the Emperor, channel 4779." The Psions pressed some buttons and Cabal Emperor Calus Valu'uzar's obese face materialized on the holographic screen. "Emperor," started the Primus, standing up and kneeling in respect, "We lost Sol 4 and its moons."

The fat Emperor growled in disgust, "YOU IDIOTS! IT WAS AN EASY SMASH AND GRAB! HOW DID YOU, THE BRAVEST AND FINEST WARRIORS OF MY GLORIOUS EMPIRE MANAGE TO LOSE SUCH AN EASY TARGET!?"

"My Emperor, we encountered a new race of beings with unknown powers. They call themselves 'Guardians', and they..." he paused, trying to explain how they got their powers, "...they think they channel the Light."

Calus shook his head, "IT SHOULDN'T MATTER! I PERSONALLY TRAINED YOU TO DEAL WITH ALL KINDS OF PROBLEMS! DO YOU NOT REMEMBER WHAT WE DO!?"

"Yes, my Emperor," Ta'aun chanted respectfully, "We are Cabal. We live for battle, die for the throne, and crush everything in our way."

"Then why," Calus asked with a nasty tone, "Why have you not DONE THAT!?"

"We tried!" Ta'aun said desperately, "We tried to conquer Mars!"

"AND YOU FAILED ALL THE SAME!! YOU ARE ALL PERMANENTLY EXILED FROM THE EMPIRE!!!!!!" Calus cut the line on his end, leaving the Dantalion full of Skyburners in silence.

After 10 minutes of silence, Tlu'urn and Mua'aul asked their Primus, "Primus Ta'aun, what now?" 

Ta'aun slouched back in his seat. "I don't know." Cabal were usually exiled from their homeworld until they came back victorious, but ever since Calus started pushing for total domination of the universe, almost every Cabal warrior, soldier, and army trainee were sent on all kinds of missions to claim strong assets for the Empire. But for all of the Cabal's wars in history, not one defeat has resulted in permanent exile. For once, Primus Ta'aun didn't have a plan.

The hologram blazed to life again, this time with the face of the Cabal Empress, a Psion who was considered to be forgiving to her empire on her best days, but was also meticulous and manipulative on her worst days and towards her enemies. Today, no one knew what kind of day it was. She whispered into her mic, "Primus, I know that I shouldn't contact you, but I have seen your battles, and this permanent exile is extremely rare for the Empire. Therefore, I believe that you can redeem yourself, if you can earn it."

Ta'aun nodded, "Yes! Yes, I can!"

Empress Rehla smiled and said, "Good. Now, I want you to crash this ship into a Dreadnought floating in the Rings of Sol 6. We've received reports of an omniscient being known as Oryx, the one who 'took' your fellow soldiers. Find and kill him, then use his Dreadnought to conquer the Sol Empire."

"It shall be done, Empress."

The hologram fizzled out, and Primus Ta'aun grinned, "It's time we reclaim our lives! For the Empire!"

The other ranking officers gave a giant Cabal salute and shouted, "For the Empire!"


	3. A Shocking Development

Ikora stared at the holographic display before her brown-skinned face. The red message before her said, "CONNECTION LOST," and she drooped her bald head. _What is going on there?_ she asked herself, _Where is Max?_

A new figure appeared in the rectangular Vanguard room, a blue-skinned Awoken Hunter named Shin Malphur. "Ikora?" she asked, "How is Max?"

The Warlock Vanguard sighed dejectedly, "I don't know, Shin. I lost contact with him a few minutes ago, and I don't know why."

"Where was he going?" The Hunter asked.

"Phobos," Ikora answered, "We detected an anomaly, and he was the first on the scene."

"Not like he matters," said a youngly gruff female voice, "Max is an outlaw running from his past."

Shin gripped her fist, "How many times do I have to tell you, Cass?" The Hunter turned to face the Titan known as Cassandra Velnag, "Max only did what he did because the world fell into political servitude! If he saw another way, he would have taken it!"

Cass groaned, "Shin, if Max didn't cause the First Collapse, would we be worse off?"

"Yes!" The Hunter shouted, "If Max gave up right then and there, we'd all be slaves to some dictator's propaganda, earning nothing but empty promises! Heck, I don't think we'd exist!"

Cass eyed Shin suspiciously, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Cass. If the circumstances were different, do you think you or your parents would exist? Would the Traveler even arrive in our solar system to help us?"

As the Titan paused to collect her thoughts, Ikora's screen flashed a green "CONNECTION ESTABLISHED" before reverting to Max's profile and a soundbar based on frequency instead of time. "...MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS OMEGA LEADER, MAX PRODIGY!" Ikora Rey and Shin Malphur turned to look at the screen. "I'VE BEEN SHOT AND I'M...ONTO THE MARTIAN SURFACE! ...QUESTING ASSISTANCE! I REPEAT: REQUESTING-" The soundbar disappeared before the screen once again said, "CONNECTION LOST."

Shin gasped, "Oh no! Max!" She turned to the Warlock Vanguard and pleaded, "Release me for duty, Ikora! We need to find him!"

Ikora sighed, "As much as I would like to, I can't. Commander Zavala and Speaker Alamo have restricted your movements since your raids into the Vault of Glass and the Hellmouth."

"And I came out alive, didn't I?" Shin argued, "I faced the Vex and the Hive in their darkest lairs. I imprisoned Skolas for his crimes against the Last Safe City on Earth. I am alive after everything our enemies throw at me! So tell me, why I can't go out onto the field again?"

Ikora sighed and muttered to herself, "And people wonder why you're Cayde's favorite." She turned back to Shin, "I don't think I need to tell you this, but you're reckless, probably moreso than your mentor, Cayde-6."

"How!? All I did was protect the City from the Darkness!"

"But you failed to protect it and yourself from Max!" Cass piped up.

Shin shouted back, "He did nothing wrong to the City, Cass! How many times must I tell you!?"

"He will break the City just as he broke his own world, and until you can prove otherwise, I cannot be convinced he's innocent!"

Shin groaned to herself, "You never will be!"

Ikora sighed, "Cass, I want you to go find Max and bring him home."

The Titan grinned, "With pleasure!"

"But don't arrest him!" Ikora added, "He's our only lead into the anomalies."

Cass sighed, "Fine," and left Shin with Ikora.

The Warlock Vanguard turned to the Hunter and said, "Shin, I'm reading similar anomalies in the Cosmodrome, albeit smaller than Phobos. If left unchecked-"

Shin sighed, "I know...it will grow out of control." She cocked, twirled, and sheathed her golden hand cannon, The Last Word. It served as a memento to her former mentor, Jaren Ward; her time with him was cut short when he was killed by a Disciple of Crota named Dredgen Yor.

As Shin left Ikora for the Cosmodrome, a small orb with orbiting tetrahedrons known as a Ghost began to follow her. "Shin!" the Ghost announced, "Wait up!"

Shin turned around to find a Ghost named Gabriella speeding up to her. "Hey, Gabriella! How's life?"

"It's fine, better without Leviathan dead-naming me 24/7." Gabriella was one of the 6000 out of one million Ghosts who are transgender, identifying as a different gender than their voice boxes and the number of tetrahedrons; male-bodied Ghosts had 8 tetrahedrons whereas female-bodied Ghosts had 4 or 6 tetrahedrons. Gabriella continued with, "So, Max is in trouble? Again?"

Shin nodded and sighed, "I should be out on Mars instead of Cass."

"You know the Vanguard's position on Max."

"Yeah!" Shin exasperated, "Indecisive! Zavala condemns Max, Cayde sings the Warlock's praises, and Ikora is trying to keep her peers from each other's throats!"

"Shin," the Ghost warned, "they are the commanding force of the City. If you try to defy them..."

"I know! I know!" Shin said frantically, "There will be consequences!" She sighed again, "I just want Max to come home safe, and without any handcuffs."

Gabriella was confused, "But Ikora told Cass not to arrest Max."

"Exactly!" Shin said, proving her point, "Ikora said that, but Commander Zavala could give a totally different order!"

The Ghost looked at Shin with intrigue and interest, "Are you going to do something about it?"

The Hunter slouched, "I can't," then Shin grinned, "But you can!"

Gabriella was taken aback, "I beg your pardon?"

"Sneak aboard Cass's ship, remain hidden until you find Max, then stun her and rescue him!"

Gabriella paused for a while to think, then said, "Ok, but you need to come back in one piece!"

Shin rolled her eyes, "I know, I know. But have I ever come back in more pieces?"

Gabriella rolled her eye, "You know what I mean." She floated away to the Hangar, Shin followed to her own ship.

* * *

Max woke up in the wreckage of his ship on the Martian desert, a few miles outside the Off World Transit, an automotive subway that used warp tunnels to transport passengers from one planet to another in the solar system in an instant in the Golden Age. Now, it's a relic from a brighter time, a relic mysteriously teeming with electric power. Max felt this faint power and asked, "Ghost? Can you feel that?"

Max's Ghost shook his head, "No. Feel what?"

Max walked to the OWT while describing electricity to his Ghost. "It's a sharp, arching, chaotic spear, but sometimes you can channel it into order. It powers almost every single thing in the modern days; houses, TVs, holo-tablets, heaters, air conditioners, hearing aids, etc."

"Ok..."

"But electricity is invisible, it's a force caused by a disturbance in the electron fields of the atoms..."

The Ghost spat, "Just stop! It's a force, and that's good enough for me!"

Max shrugged, "...fine. you wanted to know, so I explained."

As Max traversed through the inactive OWT tunnels, he noticed dozens of Vex robots gathered around the decrepit subway cars, visibly scanning the cars' power boxes for any remaining electrical charges. The Warlock in turn studied the dome-headed Vex Goblins, thinking about where he would find electrical potential. _Batteries,_ he thought, _are my first suspects too._ The Vex teleported out of the tunnels, leaving Max to examine the subway power boxes. _Empty, every last one. So where-_ His thoughts were interrupted by a low rumble of thunder. "Ghost? What's the weather report for Mars?"

"Weather report?" asked the Ghost, "What weather report? The Traveler hasn't touched this planet since the Golden Age!"

"Just measure the air pressure outside and take a look at the sky!"

The Ghost whizzed away for a minute, before floating back at alarming speeds, screaming, "IT'S A THUNDERSTORM, MAX! IT IS A THUNDERSTORM!"

Max tasted the air, small electrical pangs striking and emitting from his tongue. He asked his Ghost, "How powerful is it?"

It was a rhetorical question, but the Ghost answered anyway, "The pressure is under 25, and a lightning bolt this size could produce 100 Terawatts of raw power!"

Now Max was shocked. In a terrified voice, he asked, "Has a storm on this scale happened before?"

The Ghost shook itself, "No, but the Traveler did create a rainstorm close to a thunderstorm when it was..."

Max held a finger up in front of the Ghost, silencing him. "Light!" The Warlock announced, "Light beyond measure caused this storm!"

The Ghost laughed in fear, "Ok, now we know the source of the greatest thunderstorm of all time! Can we please go back to the City now!?"

Max shook his head, "No, I want to harness it!"

His Ghost sighed, "Again, I was afraid you would say that..."


	4. Electrical Potential

Lysander stared into the distance in his new office, thinking about his plan to corrupt and convert every living being into mindless slaves via SIVA. A female voice spoke as if it were right next to him. "Deep in thought, ssssir?" she hissed.

Lysander didn't turn, but addressed the voice, "I am, SIVA. What is it you want?"

SIVA replied, "There are only sssssssso many of my nanitesssssssss already made, I don't think I have enough to control your unwilling sssservantssss."

Lysander grinned, "What about your Replication Chamber?"

"That'sssss only one chamber!" SIVA reminded him, "I'm talking about nanite generation outside the chamber!"

Lysander frowned, he knew exactly what SIVA meant by 'outside'. _She wants to use her hosts as her chambers, even when she knows she can't convert organic cells into steel and zepto-electronics._ "I'll look into it," he grimaced.

SIVA groaned, "Look into it now!"

Lysander gritted his teeth, "I'm busy!"

"With what!? Lounging around!?"

He rolled his eyes, "Fine..." then he rose from his seat, saying, "I'm looking into it now..." before ordering two of his SIVA followers to engineer nanite replication inside of an organic host.

* * *

Max climbed the highest building in Freehold, getting closer and closer to the giant storm cloud, electrical plasma sparks discharging from the metal spikes off of the roof. The Ghost warned again, "I've got a bad feeling about this. No Guardian has ever harnessed raw electricity!"

Max shut his Ghost up with, "You worry too much!"

"You said this storm was generated from Light beyond measure!" his Ghost retorted, "A Guardian can't handle paracausal powers of that magnitude!"

Max sighed and quickly readjusted himself, "Someone has to try!"

The Ghost sighed as well, "I don't like this. I don't like your recklessness at all. You could die."

"But you can resurrect me, right?"

"Yes, but..." his Ghost sighed again, "I gave you this life, please don't waste it."

Max stepped towards a heavily electrified circle in the middle of the flat roof. The circle zapped Max, scaring the Warlock just a little bit. Max's pulse quickened, sending him into a 'Fight or Flight' response. _EEK! It's too chaotic!_ This aggravated the electrical circle to zap him again. Max ran away from the circle as quickly as he could.

The Ghost asked him, "Had enough already?"

Max shivered, "It's too raw! Too chaotic! I can't control it!"

His Ghost nodded, "Then it's time to find a calm place."

 _Calm! A storm is always chaotic on the outside, but only because it is calm in the eye!_ Max grinned, "You're right, I need to find a calm place: the eye of the storm."

As Max slowly walked to the circle, his Ghost called back, "MAX! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! GET BACK HERE! MAX!!!"

Max Prodigy didn't listen. Instead, he closed his eyes, drowned out all sounds except for the thunder, and continued to walk.

_What does it mean to be a Warlock? Knowledge and Power, to learn and channel ideas into reality. We are conduits of change, we can aggravate calmness and control chaos; we are both quiet and loud, the question and the answer, fear and willpower, the dreamer and the dreamed._

_And this storm, this electric force, is no different._

Max opened his eyes and found himself inside the circle. The Ghost was screaming at Max, "GET OUT OF THERE!" But the only thing that could be heard inside the eye of the storm was pure silence. Max sat down and crossed his legs, meditating to the lightning pulses that lined the eye.

The circle began to close in on Max. Even as the Warlock meditated, he could feel trickles of fear run through his veins. The circle closed in, Max felt the full force of the storm converge upon his head, each lightning strike of thin plasma hit his arms and legs, scarring and burning his skin. Yet Max sat there still, meditating, focusing inward.

Then with a loud **CRACK** of lightning aimed at his skull, Max disappeared. He didn't blink out of the way, much to his Ghost's chagrin. He just vanished into that bolt of lightning. _Where is he!?_ The Ghost thought, _What happened to him!?_

Suddenly, another bolt of lightning crashed in the circle, Max Prodigy reappeared, his once green eyes now aglow with light blue electricity, his arms spewing tiny blue lightning bolts in the fingers' direction, his body a conduit for electrical charge and plasmic discharge. He raised his arms, and 3 large lightning bolts came down from the giant thundercloud, striking his hands and head.

The Ghost closed his eye, blinded by the brilliance of raw electricity. A few moments later, he opened his eye to find clear skies over Mars again. The sun was shining brightly over the roof, and Max was the only major source of electricity around. Max's Ghost looked at the Warlock in shock, "How!?"

Max grinned, "I caused the storm."

"But how!?"

Max shrugged, "Maybe I do have Light beyond measure? I don't know. My point is that I mastered the storm, I am the purest conduit of Arc Light for the City, I have potential in my hands, and I choose to help the City."

Suddenly, a sonic boom entered the atmosphere, turning their attention to a Jumpship that they recognized. "HEY!" he screamed and waved his arms, "OVER HERE!"

Cass landed the ship on top of the roof, debating on whether or not she should use handcuffs on the unsuspecting Warlock, or whether or not he should be killed like all enemies of the City are.

She emerged from the ship, sidearm holstered but gripped in her right hand, ready to strike if need be. Max gulped and was about to turn away before his Ghost whispered, "No! Look at her hand!" He observed her tense stance, noticed her gripped pistol, then decided against running. Max greeted her with a suspicious, "Cass."

She replied with an equal tone, "Max. Finally decided to turn yourself in, I see."

He shook his head, "Barely. I just want to go home." Cass jingled the handcuffs over Max's face, he rolled his eyes and replied with a stronger voice, "But not like that!"

She smirked, "So you want to stay on Mars, Worldbreaker?"

Max gritted his teeth, "I didn't say that!"

"Funny," the Titan provoked, "I could swear you did."

"The City doesn't view me as a criminal!"

"The Commander thinks differently, and his word is the law."

"Doesn't he have to go through the Speaker?" Max raised an eyebrow, "Or how about his teammates?"

Cass squinted for a good minute before saying, "Handcuffs, or marooned? This is my final offer."

Max sighed with exasperation as he lifted his wrists in front of him. Cass slapped the cuffs on his wrists and pushed him to her ship. She pushed him onto an uncomfortable box to sit, then flew away, paying him no attention as he was immediately flung back by the ship's jerk into hyperspace and crushed by incoming metal crates.

Before Max's Ghost could revive him, a familiar voice whispered, "psst!" The Ghost turned around to find Gabriella hiding among the crates. "Raiden!" she whispered.

Max's Ghost, Raiden, whispered back, "Gabriella? What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you two, of course."

"Why?"

"Shin is in the Cosmodrome hunting anomalies, and you two are the only ones who know what they look like."

Raiden rolled his eye, "But then we'll be on the run from the City!"

Gabriella retorted, "You already are! Max has been deemed guilty by Zavala as soon as the Vault of Glass report came back, and Shin is chained to Tower duty fo life! And now that she's escaped..."

"I know! I know!" Raiden whispered, "But what would we do next?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't know. We'll just have to wing it. Now follow me."

"But-"

"Follow me!"

Both of the Ghosts warped themselves and Max out of Cass's ship and into the Cosmodrome. Cass took one look behind her, widened her eyes and said, "Damn it!" She switched on her radio and said, "Commander? He's escaped!"

* * *

On the Dreadnought, Oryx stood in His Altar, commanding His Taken Fallen on Earth, His Taken Vex on Venus, and His Taken Cabal on Mars to spread His Dark Blessings known as the Blights across the Solar System. His Taken Awoken, however were not pleased; they were held back from battling the Guardians and their kin, abused and ridiculed by the Hive and other Taken just for being remotely connected to the Light. Mara marched up to Oryx and demanded, "My King! When are we going to battle?!"

Oryx, with His back still turned to the Taken Mara Sov, raised His hand and said, "Patience, Awoken Queen. You and your people will be deployed soon enough."

"My people have been waiting patiently long enough!" Mara demanded, "We could easily turn the tide of battle against the Guardians, my Techeuns can do it in a matter of minutes!"

"That's why I haven't deployed them in front of My enemies," Oryx rose and turned to meet Mara face to face, His height presented an ominous presence that could strike fear into even His most devout, "You are more valuable to me alive on the Dreadnought than you are dead on the battlefield. I want you Awoken to man the engines and the weapons. And you, Mara, will help me expand my reach across the stars. I want you to summon your Harbingers again."


	5. The Prelude of Wars

Max was immediately resurrected in the Cosmodrome, surprised by his sudden change in surroundings; a rusted and broken concrete bridge dominated the middle of an unknown area, a small valley surrounded by rusted Russian buildings and Fallen Walkers. "GHOST?!" he shouted.

"Right here," answered Raiden.

"What happened!? Why are we in the Cosmodrome!?"

"Um...yeah...well..."

Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted, "Max!?"

The Warlock turned to find Shin Malphur running towards him at alarming speeds. "Shin!? Did you do this!?"

She lifted him up and squeezed him so hard, he felt his lungs begin to cave under pressure. "I thought I lost you!"

Max coughed, "Please...stop...squeezing me... i can't...breathe!" As he coughed, the Warlock let out a few electrical sparks from his entire body, zapping his partner.

Shin suddenly let him go and stood him on his feet, "Yow! Why did you do that?"

"Sorry..." he said breathlessly, "I should've mentioned that I acquired a new power: a thunderstorm."

Shin stared at Max with wide eyes, "A THUNDERSTORM!? INSIDE YOUR BODY!?"

"Uh...yeah... I found a thunderstorm on Mars and I absorbed it. Now, why am I here?" Max asked calmly.

Shin cleared her throat, "Well, I brought you here because of some anomalies, similar to the ones you encountered on Phobos."

"Ok," Max kept his calm tone as he replied, "but that doesn't explain how I went from being Cass's hostage to being inside the Cosmodrome in the blink of an eye."

Shin muttered to herself, "That no-good, lying, double-crosser! I knew this would happen!"

"What would happen?"

Shin turned to face Max again, "Ok, Ikora wanted you to answer some questions about the anomalies, and sent Cass to rescue you. But that Titan thought she could sweeten that rescue her way: with handcuffs!"

Max nodded, "Makes sense, but this means we're outcasts now."

Shin grinned, "Oh come on, Max! Being out in the wild is fun!"

The Warlock shivered, "Not for me, it isn't!"

Shin laughed, "Alright, Mr. City guy. Let's go!"

She led Max across the valley into the Fallen Lair of the House of Devils, mostly refurbished from a decommissioned launchpad of a colony ship. Normally, Fallen decorations included spears and skulls, specifically when they were stuck together and accompanied by some white graffiti lines and incomplete circles, but today the Devil's Lair had an extra helping of crimson tentacles and veins with jet black pyramids and octahedrons, all of which were glowing bright red. Raiden took a good look at the tendrils, examining its molecular structure. "It's a machine," he declared, "but there's something odd about it; this is organic!"

"Organic?" Max was confused, aside from the appearance of the red veins, "Do you mean to say it's cybernetic?"

"No, it's mechanical, robotic even. But the way it operates, it is very similar to an organic structure."

"How?" Gabriella asked, "Most Exos rely on servos and stiff hydraulics to move. So how is this thing able to maintain an exact organic shape and structure?"

"That's what I'd like to find out."

As the two Guardians and the Ghosts moved through the Devil's Lair, they noticed more veins, pyramids, and octahedrons punching through the rusted metal of Old Russian Mission Control, the new home for the House of Devils. Shin looked around the Lair, scared by what she saw, "Things have changed from the last time I've been here, and definitely not for the better..."

The sky over the Cosmodrome began to darken as huge grey snow clouds rolled in. The winds began to pick up speed, howling inside the lair. As the four traversed deeper into the old mission control, they found more octahedrons replacing the structure of the walls and doors, giving the appearance of a bulbous growth similar to skin cancer. "Geez," Raiden complained, "After we're done with the dark anomalies, we should come back here to clean up this 'vein and pyramid mess'."

Just as they approached the second rusted vault door, they found four Fallen Vandals crouched on the floor, searching for something. Unlike previous Vandals, these ones had smaller crimson vessels puncturing and weaving themselves into their host's body, turning their skin from light grey to ash white, and spawning jet Black metal plates to armor their limbs and heads. When Shin tried to sneak past them, they suddenly stopped, hissed cybernetically in unison, then turned their heads and drew their modified shock rifles on her. Their 4 organic blue eyes were now replaced by 2 cybernetic red ones. Shin stared into each of the eyes, shock and horror filling her own, _Oh crap!_

They fired, Shin jumped out of the way within a split second, drew her Last Word, then fired at each of their heads, the bullets ricocheted off of the metal plates. She landed, surprised to find all 4 Vandals still alive. "OH SHIT!"

Max jumped into action, channeling the powers of the storm within his heart to flow through his hand. He shot a bunch of electrical charges at one of the Vandals, overcharging the Fallen, stunning it, and causing it to explode. Max ducked out the way, avoiding the metal and flesh shrapnel that easily decapitated the other 3 Vandals. When he entered the cleared-out room, he saw something that took the dead Vandal's place. More accurately, it was a bunch of somethings gathered in a swarm. Max and Shin widened their eyes, "NANITES!"

Raiden and Gabriella widened their own eyes next, "So that explains the organic nature! It's made of even smaller machines!"

"Too true!" The swarm announced, "And now, you too can become me!" The nanites charged after Max and Shin, the Guardians began to jump and run away from the encroaching swarm. Max glided from metal truss to truss within a square rocket tube, carefully watching out for veins, pyramids, and nanites. Shin climbed through a decommissioned elevator shaft, cutting and leaping through ceilings and obstacles, unaware of the damage she was causing to the structure.

As soon as both Guardians reached the top of the colony ship stabilizer attached to mission control, they landed on a flat, but rusted, floor, and briefly panted for air. The nanites weren't too far behind, but decided on a different approach: eat away the metal trusses. Max heard a loud hissing noise that came from the square tube, only to find the nanites summoning their comrades from the veins and octahedrons, taking away the only support to the rusted metal. Max turned back to Shin and said, "We need to find a way down!"

"Why?" Shin huffed.

"Because if we don't..."

 ** _SHING!_** A loud shearing noise came from the bottom of the square tube; Max took another look down to find an entire sheet of metal sheared from the structure, no doubt with the nanites involved. The structure began to sway. Shin got the message. **_SHING!_** Another shear, this time coming from the middle of the tube, close to the side of the top platform. The Old Russian structure began to creak and moan as it slowly leaned from one way to another. Gabriella saw an old console and quickly floated to it, powering it and operating the controls. Raiden asked, "What are you doing!? Are you trying to kill us!?"

Gabriella corrected, "No, Raiden! I'm trying to save all of you!" A rusted crane bridge rotated itself to meet the adjacent colony ship, decommissioned since the Golden Age. "Now guys, when the bridge reaches the old colony ship, run to the other side!"

"Aye aye, captain!" Max replied.

 ** _SHING!_** One more shear, cutting away the floor's support, caused the platform to teeter. Max and Shin froze. The bridge moved ever so slowly, the towering mission control began to lean toward the ship. Max was scared that the bridge won't reach the ship in time, Shin tried dragging him over to the bridge, but he shouted, "No! Not yet!"

"Why not!?" she shouted back.

"Because our weight is upsetting the structure. But if we were to keep its balance, the bridge can swing into place and stabilize this rusted structure long enough for us to cross."

Shin thought about it and said, "Fine, we move the other way." As they did, the structure slightly leaned away from the ship, the bridge swung and locked itself into place, then they quickly ran across the bridge.

 ** _SHING!_** The nanites cut through the entire middle of the mission control tower. The top of the rusted mass began to buckle, the bridge was starting to break. Max and Shin ran to the other side as quickly as they could before the bridge and mission control fell to the ground, shattering itself. What was left of the Devil's Lair was a rusted mess, everything except for the base, which had visible orange molten cuts through the metal walls and doors. Max and Shin took one good look at the destruction and said, "Oh my Traveler!"

Inside the colony ship was a bunch of pools of Darkness splashed across the walls and floors. Max exclaimed "Out of the frying pan..."

"...and into the fire!" Shin finished, "RUN!"

Taken Fallen Vandals and Captains began appearing across the floor, shuttering like the mindless slaves they were. Max and Shin climbed again, up from platform to platform, higher and higher to keep themselves one step ahead of the Taken. Taken Vandals fired their shadow rifles at the Guardians, hoping that one of their shots would hit and send the Guardians to their doom. As soon as Max and Shin reached the top, they found more Darkness pools and large Dark blights all over the place.

Suddenly, a large shadow was cast from one of the blights. It rose vertically to overshadow Max's head, growing in-depth to reveal a long dark cloak, a 3-eyed dark head with 2 horizontal diamond horns, and two long dark arms with 3 white fingers in each hand. The Shadow growled, "MY WILL BE DONE! I WILL HAVE VENGEANCE FOR MY SON!"

Shin's eyes widened as she dragged Max out of The Shadow's fireballs. "That's him!" Max sounded spooked, "That's the guy in charge of the anomalies!"

The Hunter replied, "Then we have a major problem: That guy is Oryx, Crota's father!"

"Crota's father!? We pissed off his family!?" The Warlock fainted on the spot.

Shin loaded her Last Word and fired at the Shadow of Oryx's head. The Shadow growled again, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT WITH YOUR MIND!"

 _Not today, Oryx!_ Shin told herself as she loaded 8 more bullets into the Last Word and fired them at The Shadow's head again. She continued to fire, but failed to drive the Shadow away.

Max woke up from his faint and fired an electrical bolt at the Shadow. It growled and howled in pain, "YOU! I WILL END YOU!!"

"Not going to happen today!" Max fired more lightning bolts at the Shadow tearing it into smaller pieces of Darkness. The Shadow growled as it pulled itself together. Max's jaw dropped, _Just how do I kill this fiend!?_ Then he remembered the blight that it came from, _The blights! We destroy those, we destroy the Shadow!_ He told Shin, "Aim for the blights!" The Hunter acknowledged him by loading 8 more bullets into the Last Word and fired all of them into the largest blight she could find. The Shadow finally howled in visible pain as streaks of Light stabbed through his dark form. Max called upon all his storm powers and channeled electricity through the blights and dark pools, destroying each and every one of them. The Shadow screamed as it exploded with the blights, leaving Shin and Max alone at the top of the colony ship. Max fell to the ground, unable to keep his head upright, "I just hope that's the end of that."

* * *

Oryx screamed back on His Dreadnought, wincing from the pain He felt from losing one of His Shadows, His Echoes of Power. _The Warlock did this!? How!?_ He growled, "MARA!"

Mara Sov entered the Altar of Oryx and hissed, "What is it, my King?"

Oryx turned to face the Taken Awoken Queen, "Tell Me everything you know about The Warlock!"

"What is there to explain? He's just another Guardian."

"Who just annihilated one of My Shadows and shattered My hold on Earth! He also murdered My only son!"

"So he's powerful, more than I expected. Is that wrong?"

He growled at His subordinate, "No one is more powerful than Me! NO ONE! I want you and your Techeuns to go back to your home and blight it! Then, you will wait for my next instructions!"

"By Your Grace, Lord." Mara and the Awoken immediately transported themselves out of the Dreadnought and into a mysterious place, built on the plane between the Material Dimension, the Void, the Light, and the Darkness.

Oryx remained on His Dreadnought, contemplating on what to do next. "Now, Warlock," He called into space, "Let's see what you're really made of!"


	6. A Fiery Soul

Cass was ordered to go to Venus by her commander in search of a new power to combat Max's world-breaking past. Despite her initial protests, the Titan left anyway. Her own Ghost often warned about her blind devotion to the law, and she warned him that Max's treacherous past is more dangerous than her blind devotion. After arguing, she landed on the Venusian surface in the Ishtar Commons, the large open area beyond the Academy's library, now scarred by the impact of a crashed Fallen skiff. As she moved forward, Cass noticed a few scorch marks on the grass and small crater impacts on the soil, growing in number and shrinking in arc length as they approached the furthest doorway leading away from the Commons. The Titan asked, "Ghost? Can you track the source of these scorch marks?"

The Ghost replied, "For what purpose?"

"I need to find the source."

"But why?" he asked again, "To defend the City, or to attack Max?"

"To _counter_ Max's powers _is_ to defend the City!"

"Everyone else says otherwise; they see him as a hero."

Cass scoffed, "Then they are blind!"

The Ghost looked at her strangely, "I don't think it is the people who are blind."

The Titan gritted her teeth, "If you have something to say, then say it!"

"You follow a doctrine without question, you face every problem head first, and everything you do somehow relates to stopping a hero! If anyone is blind, it's you!"

Cass looked at her own Ghost, rage fueled her eyes as she sternly said, "Max torched his own home, his own family, his own friends! If he could do it all again, he would within a blink of an eye! Monsters like him deserve to be stopped!"

The Ghost shook and mumbled, "But that's not why he torched them..."

As they walked into another room, a decrepit dining hall and campus center, Cass noticed a small Vex plate planted on a far wall and glowing red. The Titan took a good look at it and said, "Interesting. This Vex interface was specifically designed for Guardians." As she manipulated it, her Ghost was praying that it didn't send her to some distant planet or into a time trap, or both. "Strange; lots of storage, but no files..."

"Why?" the Ghost asked.

"Either because it was newly placed, or whoever was using this was trying to wipe their data." Cass turned to her Ghost, "It's a Scorched Earth Strategy, not unlike Max's."

The Ghost rolled his eye, "Yeah, well the person using this must've been in a hurry, because their 'Scorched Earth' is sloppy."

Cass eyed her Ghost, "I'm sorry, what?"

"There's a file you overlooked."

"I think I would've-!"

The Ghost zapped the Vex plate and it began to play a message from an Exo female Titan, "To the one who finds this file, watch out! Watch your back, because the City has been infiltrated! We, the Sunbreaker clan, were ambushed by an old enemy, the Concordat! They look like normal Guardians on the outside, but their true allegiance is with a traitorous dictator named Lysander. We Sunbreakers have reason to believe he is after our forge, our only asset in our war against the dark. If your intentions are sound and your heart is pure, seek us out on Mercury. If not, then stay away or die." The message ended and the plate fell to the ground.

Cass took the plate with her and told her Ghost, "Set a course for Mercury. We have some Sunbreakers to save."

"Aye aye, captain!" They zoomed away from Venus in their Jumpship, making it to Mercury in the blink of an eye.

As they landed, they found an ancient floating fortress from the Golden Age, repurposed and redesigned for Guardians. Banners of a golden eye with a black sun as its pupil were visible on every doorway, window, and wall in the vast fort. On the floors were a random assortment of candles and books, all bunched up close to the walls, since there were no candlesticks or bookshelves in sight. The tables were also a mess, broken in half and scorched by something heavy and metallic, something like a hammer. In the halls, multiple corpses of Titans were found laying down, some with green fists on their pauldrons scorched by hammers, others with plain armor were killed by bullets. Cass noted, "What happened here?"

"Not really sure," the Ghost replied sarcastically, "a massacre maybe?"

"Yes, but why?"

The Ghost looked at Cass with a critical look of disapproval, "Didn't the Sunbreakers say they were attacked by the Concordat?"

Cass sighed, "...yes..."

"Well, it looks like the Concordat tracked them here."

Cass was apathetic to the corpses, "Who won?"

Cass's Ghost cried out, "Who cares!? People have died their final deaths!"

"I need to know!" Cass yelled back.

"If you're talking about survivors," said a new voice, elderly and feminine, "I, Commander Ouros, am the only one left."

Cass turned to face Ouros, "You're the last Sunbreaker?"

"Yes, young one. I was the first, and now I am the last."

"How many were you before all of this?"

"Count the dead, then add me."

Cass was intrigued by the elderly commander, "Were you a part of the City once?"

Ouros nodded, "I was, before I discovered the Sun Forge, before I was discovered to be driving back our enemies instead of defending the City Wall. The ironic thing is," her voice turned bitter, "Saint-14 decided that he was tired of defending the Wall from bolder enemies, and took the fight to them. He crushed the Kell of Devils skull, and was rewarded a medal for his actions."

Cass rolled her eyes.

"I know. Men often take credit for a woman's work and inspiration," Ouros straightened herself again, "But if it wasn't for me, the City wouldn't be in the state that it is, nor would other Titans follow my lead to Mercury. Speaking of which, I need to show you the Sun Forge." Ouros led Cass to an open-air, circular, metal platform with a bunch of polygonal runes carved into it, spread apart from each other in radial and arc length. The platform itself was miles above the radiolarian and metallic surface of Mercury. "This is the Sun Forge, the second origin of Solar Light."

"Second origin?"

Ouros clarified, "The Traveler made Mercury into a garden world, but to do this, it needed a solar filter, something to create an atmosphere and block out 90% of the Sun's radiation and heat. To solve that problem, The Traveler and Humanity made the Sun Forge, a massive machine made of metal and magic, strong enough to maintain a temperature and environment similar to Earth's. And it worked."

Cass was confused, "So why is it a 'second origin'?"

Ouros explained, "Energy can't be destroyed when created, nor can matter. The Sun Forge sent the rest of the solar energy to other planets, powering their own atmospheres. That's why Venus and Mars could maintain their cities and populations; The Traveler can terraform planets, but something else needs to maintain the benevolent change. Otherwise, The Traveler would terraform only one planet." The Sunbreaker continued, "But leaving only one Sun Forge to maintain an entire solar system of Earth-like worlds has consequences; when the Vex transformed Mercury, they also corrupted the Forge. With the Forge only running on a tenth of its total power, our solar system was easy prey for a race like the Hive."

Cass looked at Ouros in confusion, "So how does it grant you Solar powers? Like hammers, for example?"

Ouros grinned, "I'm glad you asked!" She clapped 3 times and the Forge set itself ablaze. "The Sun Forge still works for The Traveler, but in a different capacity: It takes the Sun's energy and converts it into whatever power you want."

Cass widened her eyes with amazement, "Like your hammers?"

Ouros nodded, "Yes. Now are you ready to become a Sunbreaker?"

"More than ready!"

Ouros stepped into the fort again and ignited the Forge, "Step into the Sun Forge, and ask yourself, 'How will I use this new power? Justice, defense, or offense?'"

Cass felt her legs begin to sweat, her armor was beginning to melt. _I...must...continue! I...must...fight back!_ She reached the center of the Sun Forge and felt her armor plates melting away from her body, clattering onto the Forge. Some of the armor began to fuse into her skin, and she cried in agony, "Hammer!! Where is my hammer!?"

Ouros laughed, "You think I'd fall for a trick like yours? I know who you sided with, traitor!"

Cass angrily glared at Ouros, "You know nothing!"

"Why else would you come right after your comrades killed mine? You wanted the Sun Forge, and now you have it! Now burn, fascist! Burn!!!"

Cass stripped the rest of her plates and summoned her Ghost. The Ghost looked shocked, "Cass! What are you doing!?" She paid no attention to him as she grabbed her melted plates in her hand and fused them to her Ghost, forming her own hammer. "Cass! Stop! Please!" She placed her thumb on the eye and pressed down hard. "CASS!!" She crushed the eye, killing her Ghost, and feeding all of the Solar Light from the Forge, forming new armor made from bronzed plasteel, just as the Forge died.

Ouros stood in shock at the new Sunbreaker. Cass cackled, "You said it yourself, Ouros: The Sun Forge is the second origin of Solar Light." Cass's new hammer lit itself, revealing the large forked and perforated snarling lion's face on the striking head, with two flat-winged eagles on the sides, each bird turning their face to their left side, and the handle was a blackened rod with an upside-down fist as its pummel. "But now? _**I** _am the Forge!" Ouros tried to draw her own hammer, but Cass shot a line of flames at the old Sunbreaker, killing her and her Ghost in one shot.

Cass sheathed her Hammer and called her Commander, "Lysander, I have the Sun Forge."

"Excellent!" Erik Larsen hissed, "Now bring me all of the dead. I have experiments to run!"

"Of course, Commander." Cass brought all of the bodies, Sunbreaker and Concordat, into her ship.

* * *

Two Hunters were stalking the wilds of The Cosmodrome, a male Exo with a yellow cloak fashioned from scraps of Fallen Captain cloaks, mostly from the House of Kings, and a female Human, tall height, dirty brown hair of medium length with streaks of silver on her right side, brown eyes, and a grey cloak wrapped tightly around her neck and helmet against the snow. Though she could feel the cold in her left leg, her right one was numb to all pain and feeling. They held out their Ghosts to scan the snow-covered surroundings in the middle of a blizzard, looking for answers to the collapse of an old mission control tower. The Exo's Ghost pinged a bunch of crimson tentacles near a broken Fallen Servitor, while the human found a couple of black octahedrons laying in the snow. "Shiro!" she called out, "Are you seeing this?"

The Exo turned, "What is it, Silver?"

The Hunter known as Silver grabbed a bunch of octahedrons and brought them to her partner, "Black octahedrons, growing out of the snow."

Shiro stared at the octahedrons before saying, "Did you find them attached to anything, darling?"

Silver shrugged, "I don't know, why do you ask?"

Shiro showed the tentacles to Silver, "Because of this."

Silver gasped, "Is that SIVA!?"

Shiro-4 nodded, "I'm afraid so, and it's on the loose."

The Human exclaimed, "We have to warn the City!"

"No!" Shiro replied, "We can't!"

"Why not, my love?"

Shiro rummaged through the octahedrons in Silver's hands before he pulled out an odd one that depicted an upside-down fist. "This is Lysander's work! And we both know he has agents in the Tower! If we warn the City, Lysander will raise his guard and accelerate his nefarious plans!" He shook his head, "No, my darling. We need to tell someone we can trust. We need to warn Lord Saladin."


	7. Of Stealth Tech and Roguish Commanders

Max and Shin arrived back at the City safely at night time, relieved to see the Traveler and the City and walk down the steps to the Vanguard's mission control again, but traumatized by what they saw in the Cosmodrome. Not only were they fighting Oryx and his dark minions, they were also fighting a swarm of nanites that could cut through metal. As soon as they entered the Vanguard room, Ikora bowed, Cayde clapped, and Commander Zavala greeted them, "Ah, you're back. What have you to report, Max Prodigy?"

Max gritted then relaxed, "Sir, Phobos was compromised before I arrived. The forces there were of the Darkness."

Zavala scoffed, "Everything without the Traveler is the Darkness."

The Warlock raised his voice, "Not like this, Commander!" Zavala glared at Max, but before the Titan Vanguard could say a word, Max continued, "These creatures were Cabal, Fallen, Hive, even Vex, but they were twisted and inverted on themselves, given new powers to combat us!"

The Commander inquired, "And these creatures, do they have a name?"

"They are Taken," boomed a familiar voice. Everyone in the room turned around to find Eris Morn descending the steps leading to the central Vanguard Table, her 3 Hive eyes striking mild shock into everyone present. "From my time in the Hellmouth, I have heard names, and two stood out in particular: Crota, the dead Hive Prince, and his father, Oryx, Supreme God of the Hive and Taken. And now, he comes for us all."

"Thanks for the morbid pep talk," Cayde said playfully.

Eris gritted, "If you knew what I knew from my time in the Hellmouth, then you'd see that as inspirational."

"Uh yeah, like I said."

Eris groaned, then turned to Ikora, "Ma'am, your Hidden have revealed the Hive Dreadnought's location in the rings of Saturn. I humbly request that you send Max to face Oryx."

Ikora looked shocked, "You want me to send Max into the darkest meat grinder? All for what? Revenge for your friends?"

Eris never waived, "Survival of our City, of our Traveler."

Zavala shook his head, "I'm not risking one Guardian by sending him into the darkest reaches of the Universe! Not even for the City!"

"Commander-" Eris started, but was cut off.

"No, Eris! We will develop stronger weapons, stronger forces to take on Oryx!" He turned to look at Max, "This Warlock is too valuable to lose, whether he is the Worldbreaker or not." The Commander left immediately after that.

Ikora shook her head, "I want to support you, but Eris's plan is too much of a risk. I'm sorry." She left without another word.

Cayde approached Max, "Listen, kid. I like you, and Shin's my protege. So, I'm going to give you a little help: Amanda Holliday and I have already outfitted a ship with modified stealth tech to sneak you aboard the Dreadnought, enough to get you in, disable the defenses, and get you out in time to deploy the cavalry."

"Ok," the Warlock looked confused, "Does Commander Zavala know?"

Cayde laughed, "Big blue doesn't know a thing; I'm using the 'test flight' excuse!"

"Great!" Shin said, "So where's our ship?"

The Hunter Vanguard grinned, "I'm so glad you asked! Follow me!"

As Cayde-6 led Max and Shin outside to the plaza, Cass jumped out of her ship and landed her feet on the balcony, her armor still a molten mess that was burnt into her skin. Max took one good look at Cass and gasped in horror, "CASS! What happened to you!?"

She growled, "I'm fine, Worldbreaker! But the Sunbreakers aren't."

"Sunbreakers?" Shin asked, "I thought they were a myth!"

"Well, they are now; I ended them before they could end our City."

Max was still exasperated, "And what happened to your armor!? It's melted into your skin!" He shook his head, "No, it has become your skin!"

Cass grumbled before saying, "The Sunbreakers did a number on me. It still stings, especially when I lost my Ghost."

Max and Shin widened their eyes, "You're mortal now!?"

"Yeah, but I can still fight!"

"No, you won't!" Cayde declared, "Zavala said we're not losing any more Guardians to the Hive!"

"Yet you're letting a mortal recruit go with Max," the Titan hissed, letting a little smoke seep from her teeth.

Max was a little disturbed by the smoke and Cass's glowing orange mouth, but he shrugged it off and said, "Cayde, it'll be alright; Shin is mortal, and she's stronger than the Vanguard's perception of her. Why can't Cass go too?"

Cayde raised a finger, but then got a menacing glare from Cass, and sighed in response, "Fine. But if Zavala asks, Cass is on her own."

The Titan grumbled as she was led away to the Hangar, escorted to a ship that smelled and looked like Hive Thrall guts glued onto the hull. Cayde showed it off with an overdramatic gesture, "Your chariot awaits, Guardians! Good luck, be brave, and don't die!"

The three Guardians entered the cockpit, Cass on the right, Max on the left, and Shin in the back. Max cycled the ship's engines, and launched their ship far away from the Tower, straight into the orbit of the yellow gas giant Saturn and its rings of icy cold rocks, specifically into the cavity of the rings, and Oryx's Dreadnought in the center.

Max piloted the ship into Saturn's rings, keeping a low profile as he moved the ship closer to the Dreadnought. Shin turned on the comms and changed its frequency to match Cayde's private channel, "Shin to Cayde: We have successfully reached Saturn, and we're approaching the Dreadnought now."

Cayde replied with, "Roguish Commander to Hive bait 1, you're a go for tippy-toe protocols." Max widened his eyes at the radio, Cass growled under her breath, and Shin rolled her eyes as she powered the stealth drive, turning the ship invisible. The Warlock continued the course, moving the invisible ship into the cavity.

Shin's was drawn to a flashing red screen on the console and asked, "Max, are you flying with the main or auxiliary thrusters?"

"Main," he replied, "Why what's-" He turned around to find Shin's face glowing in red pulses from her console, the screen was flashing 'WARNING! CHECK AUXILIARY DRIVE!' The Warlock's eyes widened, "The stealth drive!" He turned on the radio again, "Cayde? Mayday! Mayday! The stealth drive malfunctioned!"

Silence followed. A long, three-second silence followed. Cayde immediately said, "Abort the mission! Abort the mission! Get back to command!"

The stealth drive failed. Their ship became visible again amidst the massive cavity. Even though the Dreadnought was larger, the small ship with Hive guts stuck out in the cavity like a sore thumb. Cass began to shiver in fear, Max felt beads of sweat run down his face as he slowed the ship to a crawl, then Shin asked him, "Do you think they can see us?"

* * *

Oryx stood in His Altar, overlooking the gas giant Saturn, resting His hands on the pummel of His Sword, and heavily contemplating his next move. _My Taken on Earth have dissolved, My Shadows are blighting everything in their sights, and yet there is no new sign of The Warlock yet. I need to scour the system for that Prince-slayer! I must have control of everything!_

A Hive Knight burst into the Altar, "My Lord!" the Knight exclaimed, "A new ship has been spotted on the starboard side, close to the Redeemer!"

Oryx lifted His Sword and carried it to the starboard side, and He laughed, "WARLOCK! YOU'VE SEALED YOUR FATE!" He slammed Ecthar, the Willbreaker into the ground, activating the circles again.

* * *

Max, Shin, and Cass each widened their eyes as the giant circle on the side of The Dreadnought began to glow poisonous blue. The Hunter cried, "I THINK THEY CAN SEE US!"

Max pushed the throttle to the limits, driving the ship closer to the side of The Dreadnought. Cass exclaimed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

But Max never responded. Instead, he cried out, "Hold onto me! Ready your helmets!" The Guardians activated their built-in helmets, transparent to their vision while keeping their own personal atmosphere in check. The circle's blue color was growing in vibrancy; Max concentrated on the closest platform in The Dreadnought's hull, then closed his eyes.

* * *

The Redeemer released a blast similar to the one that annihilated the Awoken Fleet, atomizing the Warlock's ship. Oryx grinned, _That was easy!_


	8. Dreadnought of Power

Ta'aun saw the Dreadnought's weapon fire from the approaching Dantalion Exodus, and had doubts about the Empress's plan. Tlu'urn stood behind him, "Primus, the engines are at 80% power. We should reach the Dreadnought in time for our collision."

Ta'aun barked, "80%!? Kick the engines to full power!"

The Valus looked stunned, "But, sir-"

"NO!" the Primus bellowed, "The Dreadnought is armed! If we go slow, we die! Full Throttle on the engines! Engage the afterburners! And aim the ship into the side of the Dreadnought!" Ta'aun shouted into the comms, "Brace for impact!" Everyone inside the ship rushed to a seat and strapped themselves in. The afterburners kicked in, the ship propelled quickly, everyone on board felt their bodies slowly sway until the ship lurched forward. Only the strongest survived without blackouts, the weak were killed on impact.

* * *

Max, Shin, and Cass landed safely on one of the Dreadnought's platforms, shortly after the Warlock blinked all of them out of harm's way. Max pressed a button on his helmet and turned on his comms, "Cayde? We made it to the Dreadnought!" Only white noise followed. "Cayde? Come in! CAYDE!!" Silence.

Pure silence in the vacuum of space.

Max knelt to the ground with both knees, the reality of their situation sank into his skin, "We're all alone out here."

Shin crouched to meet him, "I know, I'm scared too."

"No, that's not it at all," the Warlock brushed aside, "We're alone out here! No Cayde to guide us, no Zavala to save us, and no Ikora to lead us! We're lost and alone!"

"Well, I'm not," Cass scoffed. Of the three Guardians on the Dreadnought, Cass was the only one breathing without a helmet.

Max stared at her, tears and confusion still forming in his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I'm here because I have a mission," the Titan clarified, "Oryx has already claimed too much of our system, so I am here to take it back!" She pointed at Max and said, "You may be weak, crying into your elbows with no strength left, but I am strong!" Cass drew her hammer and set it ablaze, "I am here to take back our solar system! Now, who's with me!?"

Shin stood up, inspired by the Titan's speech, and boldly said, "I!"

Max Prodigy was unsure of where Cass's bravery is coming from, but wiped his tears away, rose to his feet and said, "I!"

Cass spun her hammer and pointed it toward the only doorway leading into the Dreadnought's decks, "Then, onward!"

The Hive Dreadnought, Oryx's starship and the Home of the Osmium Throne, a giant, dark brown, horizontal diamondal prism with glowing auras of poisonous yellowish-green on the interior and venomous dark blue, black, and white on the giant circles known as "The Redeemer" on the port and starboard. On the inside of The Redeemer was a large, circular, hollow room, with the exception of three main platforms on the walls of the room. All three have a three-pronged space between them, but only one had a platform leading into the center of the interior. The platform in the center was perfectly circular with an open arch in the middle and a hallway containing 6 obsidian-like statues of praying Thralls and stretching from the center platform to the respective room. To the Hive, this was known as the Holy Court of Oryx.

When Max saw the Court, his first feeling was fear shearing through his hope and confidence. _I haven't seen zealous architecture on this scale since the megachurches in Old America._

Shin and Cass followed up from behind, shock and awe drew their faces. "Whoa! That's big!" Shin exclaimed.

Cass's mouth was half-shock and half-grin, she was both scared at the amount of power presented in the Court, yet pleased by how much devotion she could receive if she had similar statues. "Incredible!"

"Alright," the Warlock said, "We need to disable the Dreadnought's weapon. Scout around and find anything breakable."

"Aye aye!" said the Hunter.

"Yes, sir!" said the Titan.

Max walked from the small alcove entrance in one of the prongs, to the platform on his left. Shin and Cass jumped to the right, but only Cass went to the right platform; the Hunter jumped and parkoured from smaller platform to platform over the pronged gap to the center platform, running into the connected room. As they searched throughout their respective platforms, they each found a thin cylinder glowing venomous blue in the center of each room. Max tapped his helmet, "Hey guys! Have either of you seen a glowing cylinder yet?"

Shin replied, "Oh yes, it's glowing and pulsing like crazy!"

"Then what should we-" Max couldn't finish his thought before a loud **CLONG** resonated throughout the Court. The cylinders started to glow a sickening red, Taken Hive Knights and Wizards started pouring into the rooms, and Max and Shin had no clue what just happened. As they began shooting at the Taken, Max shouted, "What the Hellmouth was THAT!?"

Cass shouted from her room, "YOU WANT A SOLUTION? BREAK THE CYLINDERS!"

"But-"

"JUST DO IT!"

Max shrugged and rubbed his hands together, generating electrical charges between his fingers. The Taken turned to face the Warlock and growled. Max shot two consistent bolts of lightning at the cylinders, electrifying its aura, the Taken standing nearby, the other two cylinders in the Court, and the unlucky Taken standing nearby. Shin and Cass ran far from the cylinders before they could be electrified themselves. Max's electricity increased in pitch as he pressed more voltage into the Redeemer's interior. Then, it exploded.

The cylinders exploded with electricity, knocking Max back. The Taken also exploded with electricity and dark interdimensional goo. The Court's yellowish-green aura also exploded, though it brought no harm to anyone in the area. The Warlock stood up, looking at the cylinder's shards surrounding the raised cavity where it once stood. "Target destroyed," he said, "I'll inform Cayde." Just as he reached for the comms on his helmet, the whole Dreadnought rocked itself. Max, Shin, and Cass were thrown into the ground. "CASS!?!?" Max shouted, "WHAT DID YOU DO NOW!?!?"

Cass shouted back, "It wasn't me, Worldbreaker! It felt like a ship collided with the Dreadnought!"

Max stood again and looked at his teammates, "What? A ship collided?! What kind of ship!?" As he ran through another doorway leading away from the Court, the Warlock was using the process of elimination to guess what kind of ship it could be. _Hive wouldn't dare attack their own flagship and the Vex don't have or need ships, which leaves Fallen and Cabal. And since the Fallen rely on scrap to build weapons and ships, that leaves..._

"Cabal!?" Shin asked.

Max slapped his forehead, "Of course! Why wouldn't the Cabal attack a threat larger than them?!"

Cass shook and said, "It doesn't matter! We need to establish a transport beacon, now!"

Shin and Max hustled to the closest edge of the hull breach and planted a beacon and comms link into the floor. "Cayde?" They tried their comms channels again, "Hive Bane 1 to Roguish Commander, mission accomplished!"

For a while, the three only heard white noise. Then a voice crept up from the noise and said through the static, "Guardians?...Fireteam Om...Are you there?"

Max recognized the voice, and it wasn't Cayde's. _Damn! Zavala caught us!_ He sighed, "Yes Commander Zavala, we're here on the Dreadnought, safe and sound."

Silence followed on the other side of the comms. Then Zavala ordered, "Guardian...things...our signal. Deal with..." and his voice faded.

Max sighed again, "Great...just great. We need to boost the signal."

"But with what!?" Shin asked, "Where are we going to get a signal booster!?"

Cass pointed to the Cabal ship with her thumb, "Where else?"

Shin's eyes widened, "Are you nuts!? Striking a Cabal ship is suicide! We'd be lucky to even approach it!"

Cass groaned, "Come on, Shin! We've faced the Vault of Glass! How much more difficult can this be?"

Max answered with, "Um, very difficult! Cass, the Cabal are an empire based on militant expansion; anything that they own is going to be difficult to hack or penetrate, let alone repurpose!"

"And how secure was Mars? Hmm, Worldbreaker?"

The Warlock gritted, "Don't you dare call me that! The only way we could get past the Martian Exclusion Zone was by killing at least 50 Cabal!"

Cass spun her hammer and grinned, "Well, shall we?" Before Max could say anything, Cass jumped down and rushed in front of the ship's engines, her hammer burning with malicious intent against the ship. Cabal responded by emerging from the ship, guns blazing in her direction.

Max shook his head, "She's going to get herself killed!"

Shin sighed, "Yes, unless we help her."

Max huffed and drew his Vex Mythoclast, running into battle and melting Legionnaires and their Phalanx shielded comrades left and right. Centurions burst out of the ship with their jet packs burning on full fuel tanks. Shin sniped them down one by one. Just when the Guardians had this battle handled, the Cabal ship doors began to burst outward. Cass stopped and stared, but Max never hesitated. He ran as fast as he could, far away from the ship's doors.

The doors exploded, revealing a Cabal Tank on the other side, and launching Cass into a structural pillar, the blow should have killed her. Instead, it produced a relatively loud **DONG** in the vacuum of space. Max shouted, "Cass!"

The Titan rose to her feet, using her hammer to help her up as her body reverberated from the impact. "I'm fine, Worldbreaker," she snapped, "Just let me wreck this tank!"

Shin widened her eyes, "But Cass, that explosion broke your back! How are you still alive!?"

She laughed, "It'll take more than explosions and pillars to break me!"

Max puzzled about the Titan, and just how invulnerable she was. Shin oddly felt threatened by Cass now, but she didn't know if that was because she wouldn't be as resilient as the Ghouls, or if it was something else, something darker.

Cass charged at the tank, her hammer was blazing with the fire of the Sun as she swung it at the tank and the Cabal surrounding it. They fired back with all of their rockets, the tank fired 2 large rockets at the Titan, resulting in a massive explosion. Cass raised the hammer and absorbed the whole explosion, firing it back into the tank. The ray of fire cut through the Cabal tank, detonating it. Cass absorbed more fire from the tank and Cabal weapons, launching another ray of fire through the large ship, depressuring all of its internal air and mixing it with the Hive wormspores. Cass gestured her recent opening, "After you."

Max and Shin's jaws dropped, then they snapped back to reality and advanced through the ship. While Max and Shin were busy trying to navigate debris, Cass was tearing up the Cabal foot soldiers and the cargo and control decks of the Cabal Ship. The Warlock arrived on the scene horrified by what he saw, "Cass! What are you doing?"

"I'm searching for the comms link," she tried defending herself.

Max shook his head and moved past the Titan, "Next time, let me." He walked to a console and pressed a button below an orange display, "Ghost, can you translate this?"

Raiden nodded, "I can try."

The Warlock began typing away at the display, "And if I just retype this and rearrange that, adjust the channels and the Laplace and Z-transforms of the signals, that should work!"

Shin and Cass raised their eyebrows, "What should work?"

Max pressed a button on his helmet and spoke into his radio, "Commander? Are you there?"

The white noise disappeared and Zavala said, "Loud and clear, Guardian. What news do you have?"

He grinned, "The Dreadnought's weapon is disabled, and we have established a beachhead near the breach in its hull!"

3 seconds of silence followed, then Zavala said, "Well done, Max! We'll start the attack at once!"

"Er, negative Commander!" Max blurted.

"What?! What did you say?!"

"We can't attack all at once!" the Warlock clarified, "Oryx will see us!"

"Then you suggest we do?" Zavala accused, "Not attack? Stand down?"

"No, we established a beachhead, but now we need the whole beach: Send a couple of scouts to set up patrol beacons, clear out the Hive and Cabal, and get ready for war."

"We need to snuff our enemy out with one stroke!"

"And if we do that, we'll end up like the Awoken! Oryx is no stranger to finality and one-shot attacks, so we need to deplete his resources!"

"And Eris says that he'll replace whatever we kill!"

"As will we, Commander! Or have you already forgotten that we are immortal?"

Zavala was silent for a while, before saying, "Fine, Max. We do it your way. But we do it quickly."

Max answered with, "Yes, sir," and ended the call.

Cass confronted him, "You're prolonging our attack!? Who are you!?"

The Warlock merely grinned, "No longer the Worldbreaker."

Cass tightly grabbed the Warlock by the neck, choking him. "I want you to destroy our enemies and THEIR worlds, not OURS." Max quickly apologized, but Cass never loosened her grip as she said, "You never forgave the lives you destroyed!" Then she grinned menacingly, "Why should I forgive you?"

Shin attacked Cass, but she broke her hand against the Titan's head. The Titan swung her hammer against the Hunter, sending her flying into the opposite wall. Max gritted his teeth, then called upon all his Arc Light into his arms, hoping that it will be enough to stun his violent teammate. He slowed his breathing, then jerked his hands onto Cass's arm, electrocuting her and releasing her grip.

He ran to Shin and helped her up, albeit with shallow breathing. "Are you alright?" he coughed.

Shin stood up, "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Cass growled, "Why won't you just DIE!?" She launched another ray of fire at Max and Shin, before charging at them. Shin ran back to the console, reloading her sniper, and aimed for Cass's knees. Max sent lightning bolt after lightning bolt from his fingers at the violent Titan, Cass blocked all of them with her hammer and attacked the Warlock with a swift swing. Max drew the Mythoclast and fired at the Titan. She channeled all of Mythoclast's ammunition into her hammer, firing back at the Warlock at full force. He jumped out of the way and fired a bolt of lightning at Cass. Shin shot 2 bullets into Cass's kneecaps, but they just ricocheted off of her and into the wall. Shin ducked behind the console before the bullets flew past her ears. Cass growled and charged after Shin, but Max was quicker. He shot another bolt of lightning at Cass, stunning her and knocking her to the ground. He shot another bolt at her, a weaker and consistent one this time, to keep her stunned. He declared in his most judicial voice, "You're coming back to the City with us."

* * *

Jess waited for her sister on the plaza balcony, waiting for her to return home. For the past few months, she was concerned about her girlfriend, Cass. The Titan used to be lawful, chivalrous, and always held the law in her heart. But within a span of a month, her mood turned from stoic to hateful of Max. Even when they dated, Cass began spitting out profanities when Jess mentioned Max or their raids into the Vault of Glass and Crota's Throne world. At those times, Jess would change the subject, but as time passed, Cass just became crazy and full of hate; she was fixated on arresting or killing Max. Of course Jess tried to leave, but Cass would scream at her for doing so, only to apologize a minute later. She sighed every single time this happened, and every time she continued the relationship.

Jess's Ghost floated beside her, "Thinking?"

Jess nodded.

"About Cass, or your sister?"

Jess moped, "Both."

"Why?" the Ghost asked, "You know that Cass has become poisonous."

Jess sighed again, "Because I still love her. But I want the old her back."

Her Ghost sighed, "But she doesn't want to come back. She wants to kill your friend."

"Doesn't diminish my love, it just makes me want her to change back to her old self. Is that wrong?"

"No, but I think you need to let her go," he advised, "For your sake."

Jess shook her head, "I need to remind her of who she is, what she means to me."

Just then, a familiar ship arrived back in the Tower. _Shin!_ Jess thought, _she's home!_ The Awoken Warlock ran to the Hangar and found Shin Malphur and Max Prodigy leading Cass back to the Tower in handcuffs. Jess gasped, "What happened, Shin!?"

Her sister answered with, "Cass attacked us out of nowhere and tried to kill Max. Raiden caught her on tape."

Jess's expression didn't change, "Cass, why did you do this?"

The Titan hissed, "Someone had to avenge them!"

"Them!? Who are you talking about!?"

"The real rulers of the Earth! That's who!"

Jess paused right then and there, it was clear just _who_ transformed Cass into a machine of hate: Lysander, the Exiled.


	9. Evolution of Evil

In the snowy Cosmodrome, inside one of the large alcoves adjacent to the Old Russian shipyards, Shiro-4 was busily hacking a computer stack by splicing wires and reassembling the computer parts in different places. As he's mumbling about where the wires and semiconductors should go, Silver was silently watching him from a distance, wondering if her boyfriend was making a mistake or successfully hacking. Occasionally, her prosthetic leg would slightly twitch against her will, a reminder that her life was slowly diminishing, a reminder of her failed strike on a Vex Pyramidion sitting on the Jovian moon named Io.

She remembered her fireteam well: a Warlock named Asher Mir, blown away by explosions before his arm was corrupted by a lake of Vex Radiolaria; and another Exo Hunter, promptly destroyed beyond repair or resurrection by the Genesis Mind in control of the Pyramidion. As for Silver herself, she took longer to defeat, but the Genesis Mind spawned multiple Minotaurs to drive Silver into the lake. The Hunter propelled herself away at the last second, but not enough to clear the Radiolaria. Her ankle and heel hit the Radiolarian Lake, causing it to go numb with electrical pain. In the course of 3 months, her lower leg turned itself into metal, similar to a Vex's casing. Every time the leg twitches, she's automatically reminded of that horrific flashback.

"Darling?" Shiro asked, "Are you alright?"

Silver tried to hide her twitching, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Shiro stopped what he was doing and approached Silver, "Darling, I know your leg's been bothering you for a while, and as much as you want to shoulder every responsibility alone, you need to let me in."

Silver sighed, "But I don't want to burden you with my pain."

Shiro kissed Silver's forehead; it wasn't as soft as an organic kiss, but to Silver, it held all the intimacy of the world. "I care about you," the Exo Hunter said gently, "I will shoulder your pain with you."

Silver kissed Shiro back on his metal lips, "Thank you, baby."

Just then, a Fallen's howl echoed from the cold shipyard adjacent to the alcove, deep and mechanical. Shiro and Silver snapped back to reality. He asked, "What was that?" Silver drew her sniper, loaded it, and turned on the scope's heat vision. She stared down the scope, moving it to detect any signs of life. "So far, nothing." The display, like their cold night in Old Russia, was ice-cold blue. Until Silver caught something. "Wait!" she said. Her scope caught something bright red and crimson, a small figure in the shape of a Dreg, "It's just a Dreg." She was just about to lower the scope, until... "Wait! The Dreg is marching towards us!"

"And?" Shiro asked, "It's just one Dreg."

"And that Dreg has company!"

Shiro leaned in to look through the scope, the crimson figure grew into a blob: one Dreg was leading 100 more, all marching towards the two Hunters with malicious intent. Shiro straightened his back and looked out into the Cosmodrome night, his eyes widened when the Dregs came into full view. These Fallen were not simply Dregs adorned by their House's basic colors; their House banners were torn apart, used only as rags and tied onto their ash white skin. Crimson wires penetrated the skin and muscles of the Fallen, and where the wires weren't used, jet black metal plates armored the weak Fallen and their heads against bullets and the weather. Behind the metal helmets, the Fallen's eyes and mouth glowed a menacing bright red, and their teeth were made of sharp steel instead of enamel. Their weapons were attached to their waists by a single, thick, glowing, red wire.

Shiro widened his eyes, but the horrors were far from over. For every 10 cybernetic Fallen Dregs, one Guardian stepped forward with cybernetic enhancements similar to the Fallen. "It's worse, Silver!" The Exo Hunter shouted, "SIVA has corrupted the Fallen AND our brethren!"

Silver stared at the amassed army of malignant cyborgs, speechless at the sight. "Shiro," she finally said, "You have your Trespasser handy?"

He grinned as he twirled a navy blue sidearm with white splotches, "Always. How's your bow?"

Silver raised her left arm to be parallel with her eyes. Her hand was cupped against the air at first, a purple bow began to form from the handle in her hand to the outstretched limbs that held a single Void string at each end. She raised her right hand behind her head, as if she was drawing an arrow from a quiver. Silver pulled a purple arrow from the thin air behind her, then nocked it into the Void bow, and drew the string. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes, calming herself before taking a single shot. She then opened her eyes, aimed for the Dreg in front, and released the string. The arrow flew through the cold winter air, leaving an opposite anomaly in its wake: where cold once existed, there was heat; where there was once noise, only silence filled the air; chaos replaced order, and death traded places with life. This anomaly existed in a very thin layer of spacetime and its effects were covered up quickly, but the aftermath lasted longer. The arrow struck the Dreg through the heart, killing it and using the body as an anchor to the ground; the void quickly spread to all of the other enemies, latching onto them and strangling them, pulling them closer to each other. Silver grinned, "As good as always!"

Shiro jumped down and fired his sidearm at the tethered enemies, effectively slaughtering them. The Void tether dissolved, he twirled the Trespasser again and said, "Easy peasy."

Silver looked through the scope again, this time at the area behind Shiro-4, only to find more cyborg Fallen and Guardians marching out of hiding toward the Exo Hunter. "Shiro!" she shouted, "Behind you!"

Shiro turned, but it was too late. A Titan pinned him to the ground and started pounding his face. Shiro shot a burst of 3 bullets into the cyborg's head, only to find 5 more rushing toward him. Silver aimed her sniper at the cyborgs and shot off their heads, one by one. Shiro aimed the Trespasser at another cyborg Dreg, but before he could pull the trigger, a SIVA-enhanced Hunter jumped at him from the side and pinned him down. The Exo Hunter drew his knife and flailed it at his opponent's neck, but failed to make a mark.

Silver aimed through the sniper's scope, until she heard a low growl from behind. She lowered the sniper, drew her hand cannon and knife, and turned to meet the source of the growl. The source, a Fallen Captain with similar cybernetic enhancements, had snuck up behind her, waiting for the perfect time to strike her. He breathed through his cyber-mask, making a small growl that allowed Silver to hear him. The Hunter turned to find a set of four glowing red eyes staring at her from the floor, she fired on instinct, but the bullet was melted by an invisible shield before it reached its target. The Captain rose, revealing his full height and cybernetic armor, similar to the Dregs', but with additional wires and metal horns on the helmet. Silver gasped and fired 3 more bullets before diving to the ground, failing to damage her foe. The Captain fired multiple rounds from his modified shrapnel launcher, scarring the Hunter on the final hit. Silver groaned in pain, then pulled another Void arrow out of her quiver, quickly summoned her bow, and fired the arrow straight through the Captain's neck. He growled as he was pinned to the wall, but the wires on his body began to glow, his armor began to vibrate, the Captain began to writhe and fail uncontrollably as the glowing wires pulsed wildly. The Captain let out one more howl of anguish, then exploded into blood, flesh, and a cloud of nanites.

Unlike its Fallen host, SIVA couldn't be tethered to the wall, but was intrigued by the power of the Void. "Thisssss!" It cried out loud, "Thisss isss jussssst what I need!" Silver quickly fired her cannon at the cloud, hoping to take out at least one nano-machine. The cloud charged at unbelievable speed, stunning Silver and pinning her joints down to the ground. The Hunter cried in pain. The cloud cackled, "And you're a ccccyborg too!? Thisss isss jussssssst too good!" SIVA called out to the cybernetic Fallen, "Boyssssss! Take thissssss one back to the labssssssssss!"

Shiro cried out, "NO! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY GIRLFRIEND!" But it was too late; a cybernetic Titan sucker-punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold. The Dregs began to lift Silver up by the limbs as she screamed, "UNHAND ME! PUT ME DOWN!" then, "SHIRO! HELP ME!" One of the Dregs snarled and poked a needle into the Hunter's neck, sedating her. The cyborgs carried her onto a nearby Skiff and flew away.

When Shiro woke up in the morning, the battlefield was cleared, all except for the crimson wires and black octahedrons diving into the ground and the rusted ships. He drew the Trespasser quickly, aimed at the air in front of him and behind him, expecting an enemy. He breathed heavily as he thought about his girlfriend, "Silver? Darling?" Silence followed. "Silver!?" No response aside from his echoes. He cried out, "SILLLLLVEEEEEEEERRRRR!!"  
Only the loud echo remained. Shiro broke down and cried, if he could produce tears. "No...no...this can't be..."

* * *

Silver woke up in a very dark room, strapped to a lab table with a brilliant light blinded her from above. _Where am I?_ she asked herself.

"Comfortable?" Lysander asked with malignant tones.

Silver struggled against her restraints, "Hardly! You kidnapped me and strapped me to a cold lab table!"

Lysander grinned, "Good. Because I want you to feel every inch of my pain."

"Your pain!? What has the City done to you!?"

Erik Larsen hissed, "They exiled me from my home! They denied my people asylum! All I wanted to do was protect the City!"

Silver protested, "Protect!? You wanted to dominate the City!"

Erik marched over to Silver's head and grabbed her neck, "They are the same thing when the Darkness is returning! I will be the Sword that cuts it down!" He released her and told SIVA, "Interrogate and dissect this fiend at your will!"

A few clouds of nanites descended from the dark room, maniacally cackling, "No fiber, fiberoptic, or void fiber will go unturned, Massssster!"

Silver screamed as the nanites burrowed into her left arm.


	10. Virus

Primus Ta'aun, the commander of the Cabal faction known as the Skyburners, instructed 50 of his best soldiers to charge into the Court of Oryx with him. He had already instructed Valui Tlu'urn and Mua'aul to meet up with Valus Vro'orun and set up various demolition charges around the Dreadnought's core.

Ta'aun had known Mua'aul and Tlu'urn since Cabal military training camp, and as such they formed an unbreakable team that captured many worlds for the Cabal Empire. Ta'aun's next target was going to be Mars, but all hopes were quickly dashed by the Vex, the Guardians, and an insane Primus Sha'aull who almost attempted a coup against Ta'aun. To make matters worse, some dark presence was stealing and brainwashing his soldiers. Most Primi would give up on their fallen pawns, but Ta'aun understood a soldier's value. He understood it so well that he took it upon himself to ram his ship into the side of the Dreadnought, straight through the hull.

To make a long story short, it worked. The Skyburners had established a beachhead on an enemy ship, 10 times the size of theirs, and began attacking relentlessly. At least, they were...

Ta'aun charged against the Hive and Taken guarding the Court of Oryx, his foot soldiers were right behind him every step of the way. Hive and Cabal violently traded fire and melees at one another, Ta'aun crushed 4 Taken Thralls under his boot at once, all the while Taken and Hive Wizards were preparing a ritual. The Primus bellowed in the Cabal tongue, "Phalanxes! Lock your shields and charge! Legionnaires and Centurions! Guard your shield comrades!" Ta'aun's soldiers did as they were told, charging forward and pushing the Hive back. Ta'aun didn't notice that his enemies were intentionally lazy. Just as they reached the back platform leading into the center, multiple Taken Wizards spawned and grabbed the Centurions, dragging them into some unknown dimension. The Phalanxes broke rank, and they were the next ones to be Taken. Ta'aun barked, "Don't fall back!" He drew his heavy machine gun and barked again, "Follow me!" Taken Cabal spawned behind them and pushed Ta'aun and the Legionnaires into the center of the Court, killing off the soldiers one by one. Ta'aun was the only one who reached the center, and he was about to find out that it was by design.

As he was shooting down Taken, Primus Ta'aun backed himself into a giant, dark hand that dragged him into the same unknown dimension. The Primus initially fought against the hand, planting his gun into the ground, refusing to let go of his reality. A Taken Centurion growled and shot a dark axion bolt at the machine gun, shattering it and Ta'aun's hopes of living.

Ta'aun struggled against invisible restraints in a pitch dark place, confused by what was happening. "Where am I!?" he asked in a panicked voice. No response came to his aid. The Primus raised his voice, "WHERE THE HECK AM I!?!?"

A calm voice pierced the silence, tempting the Primus towards power. "You are Primus Ta'aun, the emperor's right hand, the muscle, conqueror of 1000 worlds, bond brother to Tlu'urn and Mua'aul. You have been taken."

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

The voice could care less about Ta'aun's confusion. "Calm yourself, Primus. You're free! Free from duty, from Emperor Calus Valu'uzar, from your exile, your armor, and your stench. You are free from your post on Phobos, free from your laws, you are free, period." Ta'aun's mind was invaded, his memories stolen and made manifest in the dark dimension. "Can you smell that? Smog in the air, mixed with degrading sulfuric pillars? That's home to you, isn't it?" The Primus took a whiff, and for a moment, it reminded him of home. "You are free, yet you prefer your chains of home. Why? What comfort do they hold?"

Ta'aun shouted, "Honor! They hold honor!"

"And yet," the voice projected a current image of his home, now littered with banners of a legion long thought dead. "Your Emperor is dead, replaced by a military leader hellbent on destruction. Your brothers by bond, they have already signed an allegiance with the Red Legion; they betrayed you."

"No!" he said, "They are my friends, their loyalty is with the Emperor!"

"But you need not worry about them, for they will die, and you will live forever without any attachments, without other duties, without anything other than the final plan."

Ta'aun stopped resisting, these dark thoughts finally seduced his mind. "Who are you?"

"I am your savior, and you are in paradise. There is a blade for you, it's called [strength in loneliness]." A blade appeared out of nowhere and it charged at the Primus, cutting open his arms, legs, chest, and head. "Take this blade, and you shall cut through not just my enemies, but yours as well."

Ta'aun screamed in immeasurable agony as he was being dissected like a frog, as strands of Darkness began sewing itself into Ta'aun's bones, sweeping across his veins, controlling his muscles, stabbing his heart, and attacking his brain. He screamed as his memories, his thoughts, his body became enslaved to an ancient and omniscient power.

The last thing he remembered was his home before the Red Legion, before even that memory died away, and with it, Primus Ta'aun.

* * *

Cass sat in solitary confinement, her back pressed to the wall as she scowled in pseudo-darkness. She often blamed Max for her misfortune, her failure. But now, she thought about herself. _What have I done to bring myself here?_ Cass remembered the day she left Max's Fireteam, she remembered staring at his bed as he recalled his past, the good, bad, and ugly parts of it. She wanted to send him to court, to see if he really felt remorse for the lives he took. But nothing came of it, Alamo and the Vanguard loved him for killing Crota and extending the military's reach. She needed to keep Max grounded.

What happened next was a blur: she was pulled aside by another Titan, asked about Max and his health, and then injected with a sleeping draught. She woke up in a dark facility with a red IV tube sticking into her arm, pumping something into her veins. She screamed for help, but no one answered. No one, except for a scarred man with a swastika tattoo on the back of his bald head. "You're safe," he answered, "Safe from the City, and safe from Max Prodigy."

Cass gritted, "How do you know about Max?"

The bald man grinned, "He and I have a common history."

Cass widened her eyes, "Erik Larsen!?"

Erik grinned widely, "The same."

"But you were supposed to be dead!"

He laughed, "Come now, did you really think Ghosts had limits to resurrection? Mine recreated my body from nothing more than dust and bone."

"Then how come you remember your past life!? Ghosts can't recreate memories!"

"They can't?"

Cass looked stunned, "Oh my Traveler! Yours did!?"

Erik grinned again, "Yes, and it did so very well. I remember everything that Max did to me, every scar, every action against a peaceful world, and every flaw he has. Something tells me that you do, too."

Cass froze, "What- How-"

"You're not the only one who thinks that he's breaking the law. My followers also believe the City isn't strong enough to try him. Hellmouth, it isn't strong enough, period!"

Cass was curious, "Followers?"

"The Concordat," he clarified, "We are the military the City needs at its throne. We are the long arm of the law the City needs, and we won't fail."

Cass grunted, "You can't do this! You can't take the City by force!"

Erik mused, "Maybe not, but you can."

Those last words haunted Cass, even to this day. She woke up in the City, and at first it was business as usual. But whatever was inside of her forced her to think differently, to act according to her darkest parts of her mind. The Titan began to act erratically at the mere mention or sight of Max Prodigy. Cass acted against every ideal she ever held, even to the point of murdering fellow Guardians. She had become another being entirely.

"And yet the Ccccccccity doessssssn't care about ussssssssssss."

Cass jumped at the sound of the mysterious voice, "W-w-who's there!?"

"Your ssssavior," answered the voice, "I'm your only friend."

"What kind of friend scares a Titan!?" Cass asked half-threateningly.

This time the voice sounded like it was right next to Cass, "One with sssssimilar goalsssssss to yourssssssss." Cass freaked out at the sight of a cybernetic Guardian, similar to her build. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it WAS her. This dark mirror image of Cass was different only in the red veins diving into and out of her body, and the jet black metal plates and octahedrons that made up her armor. The mirror laughed, "What? Do I ssssssssscare you that much?"

Cass screamed, "WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT ARE YOU!?"

"I am you, Cassssssssandra Velnag."

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING! WHAT ARE YOU MADE OF!?"

The mirror laughed harder, "You are made of SSSSSSSIVA, made of me. We are the hossssst and the nanitesssssss, the bread and the butter, the gun and the bullet. We are Casssssssssandra."

Cass didn't move or calm down, "What do you mean by that?"

"You need justiccccccce, you need to avenge the livessssss Max took. You know that he isssssss a monsssssster."

Cass reluctantly agreed, "Yes."

"But this Ccccccity isssss wrapped around hisssssss little fingersssssss, and they must realizzzzze their errorssssss."

Cass asked, "Why?"

The mirror grinned, "Look at where you are now, and tell me what you sssssssssee."

That answer was easy, "A prison cell."

"And why are you here?"

Cass thought about that for a while before saying, "Because I murdered someone?"

"Because you ssssssssought justice," SIVA snapped, "Ourosssss would've used the Forge againsssssssst the Cccccccity, and you took it back! Max would've done the same thing he did in the past if he ever found out about Larsen," she reminded, "You are an arbiter of justicccccce, I am your weapon, and vicccccce versssssssa."

The Titan repeated with her mirror, "We are Casssssandra."

* * *

Silver awoke from her third operation in numb pain. She felt every bite and sting of the nanites that burrowed into her muscles and toyed with her Void Light. She wanted to lay down and perish, let death take her away from this suffering.

But her Ghost wouldn't let her die.

"Please, Tita," she moaned, "Release me from this pain."

The Ghost named Titanium replied with, "I can't do that Silver."

The Hunter asked, "Why not?"

"Because I know you are stronger than this, and I refuse to give up on my Guardian."

Silver weakly asked, "Why? Why am I so important to you?"

"Not just to me, but to Shiro as well. You are loved by so many, and if you die, your vacancy can't be replaced by anyone else in anyone's hearts."

Silver sighed, then finally said, "Thank you, Tita."

A door opened in the distance, and Silver feigned her pain. Erik Larsen walked up to her and said, "Painful, isn't it? SIVA can be very persuasive when it comes to 'negotiations'." Silver grunted angrily in response, but Lysander thought nothing of it and continued his speech, "For all of SIVA's accomplishments, she can't replicate herself outside of her chambers. It's a flaw that her creators implemented to keep her contained. Her hosts help to carry her around, but she needs more from them; she needs them to make more nanites, to grow my army."

"So why can't you?" Silver hissed, "I killed a cybernetic Fallen and it burst into nanites!"

Erik drew himself closer to Silver's face, "SIVA doesn't just want the body to be her restoration chambers, she wants every cell to be rewritten as nanites. With this method, my army will never question or waiver, it will always be loyal to me!"

Silver clenched her fist, forming a Void knife with the blade angled against the restraints. She sliced one open and stabbed Lysander 10 times in the stomach, then pushed his severed body away and freed herself from the other restraints with the same knife.

Erik screamed, "HELP!! THE PRISONER IS LOOSE!!"

Silver stabbed him through the neck, shattering his vocal chords and mortally wounding him. She grabbed a black and red glowing square, ran through the open door, and never stopped running.

A cloud of nanites approached Lysander as he wheezed, "stop her!" The cloud didn't move at all. "siva, do as i say!"

SIVA responded with, "I am, my pawn."

"pawn!?" Erik coughed, "i am your fuhrer!"

SIVA laughed, "A real Fuhrer issssssss never weak! And I, Lyssssssssander?" She sent every last nanite into his wounds, causing immediate and immeasurable pain for the Concordat leader, and laughed even harder, "I am the Army AND the Fuhrer!"

Lysander screamed as his remaining organs were slowly integrated with robotic nanites.

Silver ran up a flight of stairs before exiting to the next floor, exiting the giant, octahedral complex she was trapped inside, only to find out that the complex was underground and connected to another octahedron like it via a single bridge. 10 cyborgs ran across the bridge to stop the escapee, but Silver already drew her bow and fired an arrow at the pursuing cyborgs, impaling them. She ran and jumped over the bodies, escaping into the other giant octahedron. 20 more cyborgs came racing from inside the first room, centered around a large octahedron with large crimson wires coming out of the bottom. The cyborgs ran on the bridges surrounding the octahedron, separating it from rows of cylinders placed against the walls of the room. Silver drew her void knives and sliced through the cybernetic Fallen and Guardians, letting the bodies fall to the floor in halves. She kept running through rooms and slicing through Fallen before reaching a long shaft carved into the ground, then used her knives to stab into the rock and climb up to the surface.

While climbing, Silver thought it odd that the SIVA cyborgs barely fired a shot at her, let alone attack her. When she got up to the surface and emerged from the broken Cosmodrome Wall, the Hunter knew why. Outside the tunnel, on the fragments of the broken part of the Wall, SIVA Fallen and Guardians were uniformly lined up, pointing their guns at their escaped prisoner. They fired crimson energy bolts that bent themselves in thin air, trying to find their target. Silver jumped, avoiding the bolts and drew her bow, firing an arrow at the mass of cyborgs and tethering them to the ground. She split her bow into 2 pieces, forming her knives and sliced through 10 Fallen. One tethered Titan grabbed her while she was midway through a Dreg, and threw Silver into the ground. The Hunter was pinned, but she kicked the Titan in the face and slit his throat quickly. 4 more cyborg Guardians ran in retaliation, rapidly firing their guns, hoping to land a shot. Silver jumped again, drew her Void Knives, and stabbed the middle 2 Guardians through the heads, then slicing the other twos' throats. She picked up a pulse rifle, shot down a few of the incoming Fallen, then jumped down from the Cosmodrome wall. She fell down at a speed too fast for any normal human, but the Hunter jumped midair at the last second, prompting her to land safely on the ground.

The cyborgs above her let out a blood-curdling scream, and Silver ran away from the Wall as fast as she could. "Tita!" she shouted, "Get the ship and get us out of here!"

"Aye aye!" replied the Ghost.

Silver's ship arrived in front of her out of warping, then brought her aboard via the Ghost and sped away back to the City. She breathed deeply, calming herself before taking a look at the strange red and black square she stole.

SIVA watched Silver escape into the distance through her puppets and screamed, "She stole one of my engines!" Through one of the cybernetic Titans, she commanded, "Fallen! Do what you do best: tear apart the Cosmodrome for any and all scrap metal! Concordat! Carve massive forges into the ground and start reforming the scrap into new steel! My plans must be accelerated without the Void!"


	11. Retaliation

Skolas looked around in his cramped cell. The once Wolf Kell of Kells was now chained in the same place he knew all too well. The Prison of Elders, the only security prison built by the Awoken for one purpose: detaining any and all enemies of the Reef. He knew his crime, to free his people from a tyrannical Queen. He knew who punished him, the Guardians of the City, the so-called 'defenders of the Light.' _Guardians?_ he thought, _Heh. What do they guard exactly? Their oppressive City that seeks to kill us every day, or their own glory they fail to preserve?_ He wondered if he was ever going to make it out alive before a Guardian decided that he should die. Just as his anxiety made way for depression to settle in, he felt some large hand with a tight grip pull him into a dark dimension, one that tried to lull him to sleep and away from reality. "You are Skolas," the calm voice began, "Once a Dreg, then a Baron, Kell of Kells, and now, prisoner of the Awoken. You have been taken."

Skolas fought against the lulling urge and gritted his teeth as he barked, "WHO ARE YOU!?"

"Rest now, Skolas," continued the voice, "Your fight is over. Yet because your arms were cut off and your Ether Mask is wrecked, you feel as if there is still a war." Images of his uprising swirled around him, showcasing his failures to subsumed the House of Devils, conquer the Vault of Glass, and defeat Shin and her fireteam. "You thought that you could fight against the Guardians. But you have been usurped, and your Wolves have been scattered as a result, fleeing to the claws of a nanite swarm to regain their glory. In their eyes, you hold no power. In everyone's eyes, you are just another Dreg." Images of his profile that were once passed around his House to promote his reign were now torn apart by all kinds of cybernetic Fallen. Skolas then began to weep. The voice carried on, "What you need is power, a special power that cannot be usurped easily. I have made a special blade for you. It is called [powerful dictator]. Take it in hand and claim every house, every banner, and every planet. Let no one stand in your way!"

Skolas felt a knife cutting through his veins, opening his arteries, and dissecting his brain. He screamed as Darkness began to flow into every opening, transforming him into a Taken Warbeast. He felt a sense of awakening as his arms grew back and his face was repaired. Once his transformation is complete, he took his new Scorch Cannon and shouldered it. It was jet black with accents of white and oozing with dark energy. The Kell of Kells was ready to kill again!

* * *

Max, Shin, and Jess returned to the Tower Plaza after the harrowing trial of _The City v. Cassandra Velnag_. The day didn't even pass, and yet news of the sentencing spread like wildfire. Some people began to question the authority of the government, using the brash and biased sentence as evidence against the Consensus. Most people saw Cass as an insane monster who decided Fallen lives weren't enough for her blood lust. Others looked at Max Prodigy with vicious eyes, believing every word out of Cass's mouth at face value. But to Max, he saw the same old Tower filled with the same old Guardians and citizens. He and Jess wouldn't notice the death glares aimed at them, but Shin shot daggers from her eyes back at the malicious Guardians. Max, Shin, and Jess descended the staircase leading to the Vanguard's room, turned around at the foot of the stairs, and approached the Lightless Guardian known as Eris Morn. "Eris," he inquired, "we need to find Oryx on the Dreadnought, but we don't know where to start."

Eris's three green eyes glowed through her brown bandana, a reminder to everyone (especially herself) that she has been through Crota's Throne world, and barely survived a massacre on the way out. She answered Max with, "Toland spoke of the tithing system: Thrall and Ogres to Acolytes, Acolytes to Knights and Wizards, Knights and Wizards to Ascendants, and Ascendants to the Hive Gods."

"And this helps us how?"

Eris drifted into a vast monologue: "The Hive began with Oryx, the Taken King, the Supreme Hive God, the Navigator of Death. He instilled the Sword Logic onto the Hive, and in doing so, caused the inception of planetary destruction. He created Crota as a means to extend His destructive reach, until the Hive Prince's demise."

Shin protested, "But that doesn't-"

Eris waved her away, "Crota was Ascendant at the time of his death, but he started as a mere Thrall. He grew more powerful than any other Hive, actively denying them of his tithes, saying that only Oryx is worthy of his gifts. Oryx saw this and grinned; He wanted a Hive to do only His bidding and no one else's. Crota grew in rank within months instead of decades, rapidly transforming from Thrall to Ascendant Hive."

"But how does this help us!?" Max demanded.

Eris sighed before continuing, "In order to reach Oryx in His Dreadnought, you must become Ascendant. You must trick the Hive Ruptures into thinking you're a child of Oryx." She handed a memory stick to Max and said, "Take Toland's journal with you. Grab as much Hive marrow as you can. Once you enter the Chamber of Night, steal Crota's soulstone."

"Sounds like a plan, let's go."

Before they could, Eris asked, "One more thing, where's my ship?"

Jess was taken aback, "Huh?"

Shin laughed nervously, "Um, your ship? Um... heh heh..."

Eris gave them a sour face, "Where. Is. My. Ship."

Max sighed, "Cayde...gave it to us, and Oryx destroyed it."

Eris gritted her teeth, "YOU destroyed my ship! YOU sacrificed it for a pointless mission to the Dreadnought! You three are stupid idiots!"

"Eris!" Cayde shouted in the distance, "Don't blame 'em! They did their duty!"

"They could have used Crota's soul to sneak aboard the Dreadnought!"

"And you were gunna tell us this, when exactly?"

"When you asked," she snarled.

"And your answers always end up being a 6-page essay. Your point is?"

"My point is that you're all insufferable!"

Cayde bowed eagerly, "Why thank you!"

Eris sneered, "That wasn't a compliment."

Max rolled his eyes, "And we're out of here!"

"Wait!" Cayde shouted, "On your way out to the moon, visit Rasputin. He's got stealth tech you can use to sneak past the Hive."

Eris sneered at the idea, "Stealing from Rasputin is near impossible. Go to the Moon now!"

Cayde scowled at Eris, "Little miss darkness, I understand that you're angry at us for stealing your ship, but I must implore you to think about Fireteam Omega's safety. They are our only hope in defeating Oryx."

Eris sighed, "Go then. Go do your pointless mission in the Cosmodrome."

Max left without another word. Shin and Jess followed him to the ship, only for the three of them to be stopped by a yellow Exo Hunter. "Hey, do you have a moment?"

"Not now," answered Max, "We have an important mission in the Cosmodrome."

"Oh," the Hunter said with surprise, "Well perhaps I can come with you."

"Why?"

"Because my mission is important too."

Shin eyed him, "How so?"

"My girlfriend was kidnapped..."

Max laughed, "Love? Heh! We're on a mission to stop a Hive God from squashing our City!"

The Hunter also laughed, "Then Oryx has some competition!"

The Warlock turned to the Hunter in shock and horror, "Competition? How?"

"A swarm of nanites known as SIVA has taken over the Cosmodrome, and if we don't stop it soon, it could also squash the City like a bug."

Max's eyes bulged, "Well then. What are we waiting for?" He motioned for Shiro to join them.

"HEY! SHIRO! WAIT UP!" another voice called out. Shiro-4 turned to find his girlfriend, Silver the Hunter, run towards him. As they embraced, she panicked, "SIVA is accelerating its plans! It has possessed Lysander and built multiple forges and crucibles for remaking steel!"

Shiro's eyes widened, "Then we need to move!" He turned to Max, "Sir, I'll explain everything on the ship."

Max was stunned by Shiro's salute, "Err...okay..." but thought about it long and hard before he actually said anything to him. The five Guardians packed themselves into Shin's ship and flew off to the Cosmodrome.

On the way, Max told Shiro, "Alright, explain what is SIVA, who is Lysander, and why you called me 'sir'."

Shiro coughed, Silver sat next to him. "SIVA is a cloud of nanites, growing in size and strength exponentially. But it can only do so inside of its replication chambers. Lysander is, or was, the leader of the Concordat, a militant faction based on a complete takeover of the City; he activated SIVA as a way to gain unwavering loyalty from his allies and enemies, and he wanted the nanites to replicate outside of the chambers."

Max shuddered, "Sounds dangerous, and yet familiar..."

Shiro raised an eyebrow, "What are you implying?"

"Lysander sounds like an old 'friend' I used to know. A traitor to democracy and the Light."

Shiro nodded, "I know of your battle with Erik Larsen and Fascism, sir. It's why you're famous."

Max shook his head, "It doesn't seem like it to me."

Shiro laid a hand on Max's shoulder, "The City and the Concordat consider you infamous. To Silver and I, and others like us, you're a hero." He lifted his arm, went to the co-pilot seat, and said, "Don't forget that."

Max gave a half-grinned, half-frowned, "Thanks."

The five landed in the Cosmodrome's Forgotten Shore, once a wasteland of rusted ships torn apart by the earth and time, it was now lit up by cybernetic Fallen and Guardians plasma cutting scraps of the ships into rusted metal sheets, easily carried out by modified Fallen Shanks. Everyone gasped at the sight, only to cough under the smoking skies. They activated their helmets and took a good look around, just as their suits filtered pure oxygen out of the poisonous air. "This is a nightmare!" Max cried out, "Look at those pillars of smoke!" He pointed to the night time eastern skies, outlining the black smoke pillars, some of which still had hot sparks and ash floating to the top.

"SIVA is definitely cooking something," Silver declared through her helmet.

"And 10 Glimmer says that it's something big, bad, and not spicy ramen," Shin finished.

"Alright," Max said, "Shin and Jess, you go to the Warmind vault and steal some stealth tech. Shiro, Silver, and I will check out those smokestacks. If you find any unfriendly cyborgs or Taken, shoot to kill."

They nodded, "Yes sir!"


	12. Tippy Toe Protocols

Shin and Jess parted from the rest of Fireteam Omega, racing towards a plasma-dissected building with a black diamond tunnel burrowed into the rock, the tunnel that led to Rasputin, the Russian Warmind AI in charge of Golden Age Earth. When the sisters entered his bunker, they were greeted by a heavy Russian voice, "Ah, my favorite Guardians! Come in! Come in!"

"Hello, Rasputin," Shin greeted back, "Still fighting off Hive?" No one in the bunker forgot about Omnigul's strike on Rasputin's bunker and ground satellites.

"In a way," the Russian AI replied with a shudder in his tones, "These new Hive are dark and spooky. The worse news is that there are cyborgs raiding my memory banks for data."

Jess rolled her eyes as she moaned, "SIVA and Taken. How can this get any worse?" Rasputin breathed, but Jess snapped, "Don't even answer that!"

Shin quickly apologized as they descended to the Seraphim Vault, "I'm sorry, Jess is a little moody, no thanks to her insane girlfriend."

"Ah," he said, "My apologies. I understand how you feel, Jess."

"How so!?" Jess snapped again.

Rasputin answered with, "My creator had a crush on another man, a programmer just like him. But he went insane, not unlike your girlfriend."

Jess stopped, "Seriously?"

"And this wasn't a rare occurrence either, plenty of spouses and significant others turned on each other at the end of the Golden Age. Those that didn't were lucky."

"What happened?"

Rasputin hesitated, "No one knows, not even me. I'm running calculations and simulations to find the cause, but I'm running blanks, and these invasions aren't helping either."

Jess pondered about that as they entered the Seraphim Vault. Suddenly, 5 Taken Centurions and 10 Taken Psions warped into existence. She drew her scout rifle, modified with Vex tech she repurposed from the Vault of Glass, and shot down the Psions first. The Centurions lobbed Axion Darts at the sisters, and the grenades sought out their targets. Shin and Jess jumped out of the way, but it was too late. The darts struck the Guardian sisters, flinging them into a wall. Shin fired her Last Word midair into the Centurions' heads, disintegrating them. She didn't have enough time to cushion her fall, so when the Hunter hit the ground, it broke her toes. "OUCH!" she yelped.

Jess landed gracefully next to her sister, "Need a splint?"

"No," Shin groaned, "I'll be fine. OW!" Her toes bent themselves the wrong way, "OW! OW! Maybe! OW! Yes!"

Jess wasted no time in pulling out her first aid kit, reaching for 2 long metal sticks, then broke it into 12 pieces according to Shin's proper toe lengths. Jess took off Shin's boot, straightened her toes (much to the Hunter's pain), aligned the stick pieces on the top and bottom of the toes, then wrapped a bandage around Shin's foot. "Perhaps you ought to sit this one out?" Jess suggested.

Shin tried to stand, "I'll be fine. I can move forward."

"No you can't," Rasputin tried to sound concerned, but his words fell flat.

Shin gritted and pulled her boot over the bandage, "I said I'll be fine!"

The Warmind backed off, "Ok then."

The sisters advanced through the Vault, still amazed by the sheer size of the Warmind's electronics. Even though Rasputin's processor stack was locked behind 2 layers of futuristic steel-plated doors, walls, and glass, his RAM and memory banks were separated into various rooms based on his types of applications. VOLUSPA and IKELOS Protocols were stored in one room with weapons manufacturing and testing, while MIDNIGHT EXEGENT and VELIKA DAWNING were stored in a different room, one with additional processors to calculate the causes and effects of the Darkness and the Light.

Shin and Jess moved through the underground facility, killing Taken and SIVA cyborgs where they tread. In the large, square-shaped DVALIN/IKELOS room, Shin approached a small monitor and typed "stealth tech" on the touch screen. One result popped up: LOKI CLOAK. Rasputin saw this and asked, "Why do you need my LOKI CLOAK? What are you planning?"

Jess answered honestly, "These dark creatures, The Taken, have a source sitting in the middle of Saturn's rings. As much as we would love to just waltz into its core and Altar and kill Oryx, we can't do that until we trick the Ascendant portals into thinking we're an Ascendant Hive."

"And how does this relate to LOKI CLOAK?" The Warmind accused.

"Because we can't get an Ascendant soul without infiltrating a Hive Funeral for Crota."

Rasputin put two and two together, "Oh, I see. Well, I'll give you the LOKI CLOAK Protocols on three conditions."

Jess slumped. Shin straightened herself, confident in besting whatever challenge the Warmind could throw at her. "Name them."

"One, clear out my facility; I don't want to see these spooks in my vaults again. Two, there are two weapons missing from the IKELOS index; find them and bring them back to me."

"And number three?"

"Go to Mars at these coordinates," Rasputin sent a list of numbers into the helmets of the sisters, "There's something inside the northern icecap, a Clovis Bray facility built for...something. For some reason, pictures of that place are stuck in my banks, but I don't know why."

Shin thought out loud, "If we restore Rasputin's memory, perhaps he could remember that place."

Ras mused, "Maybe."

The sisters advanced through the next few hallways, killing Taken and cyborgs before they could fire a shot. As soon as they reached the LOKI CLOAK room, they were ambushed by two swarms of Taken Thrall and 10 Cyborg Vandals. The Thrall charged at Shin and Jess, scratching their arms. The Hunter yelped and fired at the Taken, killing them. Jess screamed in pain before grabbing a Thrall by the neck and swung it against the other Thrall. The SIVA Vandals saw this and tried to snipe Jess, but they were too slow. The Awoken Warlock threw a Vortex Grenade at 3 Vandals, dissolving them into atoms as they reached its core. The other 7 Vandals screamed in rage, but their voices were cut short when Shin fired her Last Word, all 8 bullets tore through their skulls. Shin and Jess moved to the central console, unaware that certain nanite clouds were crawling out of the Vandals bodies.

Shin began typing into the console, searching for the storage of LOKI CLOAK. Rasputin announced over the speakers, "It's not compatible, not yet."

The Hunter raised an eyebrow, "Explain."

"LOKI CLOAK was designed to work with DVALIN armor and weapons, taking real-time footage of the user's surroundings to create invisibility. Your problem is that DVALIN is inactive."

"But you said, 'not yet'. Why?"

The Warmind answered with, "Because you Guardians have Ghosts, which are your connections to Paracausal Power. I am modifying LOKI CLOAK to work with Ghosts; my goal here is to bend light."

Jess was shocked, "Our Light!?"

"No no no! Light as in physics and sunlight. Traditional light, not Paracausal Light."

"Oh. Phew!"

Then they heard a slight hissing noise, coming from behind them. Shin turned around to find the nanites hovering above the ground. "JESS!" she screamed.

Jess whipped around and saw the large cloud of nanites in front of her sister. "Get away from her!" the Warlock shouted at the cloud.

SIVA laughed, "No! I don't think I shall!" The cloud charged at Shin, but the Hunter dodged out of the way just in time. Jess threw another grenade at the ground, just below the cloud, dissolving the nanites. Just then, a high-pitched scream was let out by the nanites, echoing throughout the halls of the Seraphim Vault.

Rasputin, although he had no face to speak of, was audibly scared. "Friends, we're in trouble."

Shin was freaked out too, "In trouble? With what!?"

"SIVA!" he declared, "She is directing her forces to the IKELOS room! If she escapes with those weapons, your City is doomed!"

Jess grabbed Shin's hand and ran back to the DVALIN/IKELOS room, crawled through the vents, and reached the downstairs weapons testing room. It was significantly bigger than the upstairs adjacent room, since most of the room was lined with cardboard and plywood targets, all resembling human bodies. The cyborgs in the room screamed and charged at the sisters from all sides, guns blazing and electrical knives in the air. Shin shot down a couple with her Last Word, Jess killed a few more, but it didn't stop the horde from converging on them. Shin jumped away, the Awoken Warlock lobbed a Nova Bomb at the horde, killing all of them, but it didn't stop the rest from coming out of walls. Shin fired her hand cannon again and again, killing cyborgs in bundles of 8. Jess kept throwing her grenades, but the horde refused to give up. "RAS!" the Hunter shouted, "A LITTLE HELP!?"

Rasputin electrified the walls, preventing more cyborgs from entering the room. "There. Now what did they take?"

Shin accessed one of the middle consoles, searching the logs for any missing weapons. "There are still a few weapons here, but two of the nine IKELOS prototypes are missing!" Shin answered.

"What!?" The Warmind was alarmed, "Check the weapons rack!" A panel opened from the wall, revealing 9 weapon holders, 2 of which were empty. Shin and Jess turned around and saw the holders, but Rasputin reacted faster, "No! No no NO! They ARE gone! Shin!" he barked, "Find those weapons! Both of them! Bring them back to me!"


	13. The Skies of Fire

Max, Silver, and Shiro-4 rode their Sparrows past the Forgotten Shore, zooming across the snow toward the tall pillars of smoke and fire. Their journey brought them through a slightly descending canal to a long-forgotten section of the Cosmodrome, a dried out man-made valley full of beached ships. At least, it used to be that way...

The Archon's Forge was a massive circular area surrounded by a Golden Age fortress wall on the outskirts of the Russian Cosmodrome, full of jet black tetrahedrons and crimson tentacles that stretched out for miles. The fortress would act as the gates of the canal from the outside world to the Cosmodrome, but now it was converted into a forging field with one purpose: war preparation. The three Guardians stopped their vehicles a few meters after the canal met the fort, observing the bright, tall forges filled with bubbling scraps of metal, glowing orange and yellow streams of molten metal flowed from the bottom of the forges and traveled to a number of molds of various sizes and shapes. Most of the molds formed weapons to be assembled, but some were more complex, such as servo parts, circuit boards, and microcontrollers, some of which were small, but most of them were huge, meant to construct battle tanks. Max was horrified at the sight of the molds constructing all of these items for war, "This far worse than expected."

"Agreed," Shiro replied, "Let's tear this-"

An immediate battery fire drew the Guardians' attention away from the forges and toward the ring of 9 giant guns surrounding the Archon's Forge. The guns were tall and long, angled at 45 degrees, but can reach 0-90 degrees of verticality. Max gritted his teeth, "Fort defenses. I should've known."

"Should've known what?"

Max shook, "It doesn't matter. Those guns," he pointed to all 9 battery guns, "must die!"

"Agreed. But how?"

Max muttered, "Knowing him, he must have control centers for each cannon, and each center is a power hub and is also loaded with ammo." The Warlock grinned and ordered, "Shiro, take the 3 long cannons on the right! Silver, take the 3 on the left! I've got the middle three guns! We'll meet at the forges! Be Brave, Fireteam!" He zoomed around the left side, passing Silver as she entered her first target inside the metal fort. She hacked open the door and shot down all of the patrolling cyborgs inside the control room, then removed the ammo tanks from the giant gun's barrel and placed them all around the room. Silver threw her incendiary grenade into the room, closed the door, and ran out of the short tunnel, speeding away on her Sparrow to the next gun, just as the first one exploded into scrap and tore apart some of the fort, creating a cavity in the structure.

* * *

An Archon Priest named Vosik was busy overseeing the forges and the Dregs that run them, careful to keep the metal from fusing with different elements. Unlike most Fallen who were visible cyborgs, Vosik's only organ in his fully mechanized body was his brain, and despite SIVA's recommendation on a quantum processor made by nanites, Vosik kept his brain organic because it reminded him of who he was before SIVA transformed him and the Fallen Houses. Just as the forges were injecting molten metal into the molds that formed the parts for 6 mechanical legs, a massive explosion disturbed the flow. Vosik stared to his right, stunned by a plume of fire, scrap, and smoke. When he regained his composure after a second, he barked in both Eliksni and English, "RED ALERT! RED ALERT! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! GUARD THE BATTERY CANNONS! SPEED UP THE FORGE! KILL ALL THAT DEFILE US!"

* * *

Shiro entered his first target to minimal resistance at first. However, as he was placing the ammo tanks around the room, the Exo Hunter heard cybernetic screams coming from the entrance. _They're fired up, now!_ he thought. "Team!" he shouted into the comms, "They know we're here! Finish off the guns quickly!" Shiro killed his way out of the gun's control center, then shot at an ammo barrel in the distance, blowing up the entire cliff in the process. He was blown away, but not too far to damage him. His visual sensors were fuzzy for a while, but he managed to make out a large stream of water coming from the crevice, "Guys! We have a problem!"

Max stood in shock as he exited his first target and blew it up. The explosion tore apart the gun and the wall it was attached to, opening up a path for the water to flow through, creating a cavity in the neighboring ice. Then he thought, _This could actually work!_ "No, Shiro!" The Warlock said, "It's a solution!"

"How!? We'll be washed away! We could drown!"

"We're Guardians, remember? So keep doing what you're doing! More cavities means more water, and more water means those forges will be useless!"

Silver nodded, "Yeah, but what about Shiro? He'll short circuit!"

"No he won't. He'll be the first to escape. But we must use triggered explosives, or else this won't work. Now let's go!" Max hopped on his Sparrow and rode to the next two guns, killing all of the security inside the rooms, placing the ammo barrels, and setting up a triggered Pulse Grenade on each of the consoles. The cyborg Fallen and Guardians coming into the control rooms never stood a chance against Max's Mythoclast. Silver and Shiro both did the same things to their targets, except they used spike grenades.

Shiro got to the canal first and said, "I hope you know what you're doing, Max!"

"I do!" The Warlock shouted, "Now go!"

Shiro squeezed his fist and sped away, his targets detonated at the same time, rushing water into the Archon's Forge. Max and Silver soon followed, detonating their grenades and causing the walls to explode and cave in. The water rushed into the Forge all at once, destroying the forge towers and freezing the metal into exploding raindrops. The water climbed up, Max revved his Sparrow, trying to avoid anything that could hit his engine. Silver and Shiro sped up too, narrowly avoiding the trickle of water rushing out of the canal, with Max riding it.

The water receded, revealing the damage it caused to the Archon's Forge; the towers it wrecked, the molds it broke, and the metal products half-finished. Max breathed a sigh of relief, "That stalled them," then he turned to Silver, "Who did you say was behind this?"

The Hunter turned to him and said, "Lysander. But he's now possessed by SIVA and-"

Max got off his Sparrow and looked at his carnage. He broke down in the snow and said to himself, "All that I did, all the sacrifices I made before, it was all for naught?"

Silver tried to console him, "Max, it's okay."

The Warlock stood, "Okay? Okay!?" He whipped around and said, "Look at this place, Silver! It's monstrous!"

"I know, but we destroyed it"

"I sacrificed my life to stop this mess! I made the ultimate decision to destroy the enemy of humanity, to stop his infectious empire! But while I was busy killing Crota, Erik Larsen was living like a cockroach under a rock! He waited for this moment, to strike! And you're telling me that it's okay!?" Max shook his head, "No! It's not okay! As long as Erik lives, no one is safe! We need to kill him! Once and for all!"

* * *

Vosik and 6 other Captains brought 7 gigantic heavy molds down to the Perfection Complex, now shrouded in darkness. "Master," he bowed before the dark, "Your freedom is at hand." He and the 6 Captains opened the molds, revealing 6 identical spider-like legs and one rotating torso in the middle.

The nanites grabbed the pieces and assembled them on a giant platform in the middle of the dark diamond room. A familiar, but cybernetic voice replied, "Yessssss, it'sssssss all coming together now. Go guard the entrancccccccce, power up the battle tanksssssssssssss, and make sure our armiessssssssssss are ready to attack."

Vosik bowed, then took the Captains with him as he ascended to the top of the Complex.

Lysander looked at his new legs, "I will have freedom."

"To do what?" A familiar voice asked. This one took the form of Erik's cybernetic mirror. "What will you do when you get out of here?"

"I will crussssssssssh the Cccccccity! I will rule the Cccccccccccity!"

SIVA laughed, "No, I will! You are mine now! Everyone will be mine! Or have you forgotten that I am the only reasssssssson why you have a ssssssssssliver of power?"

Erik groaned, "N-n-no, I have not."

The mirror grinned, "Don't worry, Erik. You will be my general, my ssssssword and sssssssshield on the field of war." Another cloud of nanites brought forth a red pulse rifle and holstered it into the torso's right side. "You are my sssssssword, and thissss issss your blade. Usssssse it, corrupt our enemiessssss, make them become usssss!"

Erik grinned through his metal face and jaw, "I mossssst ccccccertainly will!"


	14. Chapter 14

Max stood near the wall inside the Cosmodrome, waiting for Shin and Jess to return with the stealth tech. While he waited with Shiro and Silver, he called up Kaden-2, another teammate of his, to meet him in the Cosmodrome. Kaden arrived on time and asked Max in sign language, "What are we doing here?"

The Warlock replied with, "I'll explain when Shin and Jess arrive." The two sisters arrived at Max's location, and the Warlock said, "Now that everyone is here, I'll explain the context and the plan." He took a deep breath and explained, "Silver managed to escape from a Perfection Complex below the surface of the Cosmodrome, and it is inside this Complex that SIVA and Lysander command their forces. Our plan is to storm the Complex, kill Lysander, and destroy SIVA."

Jess stared at him for while in disbelief, "Just like that?"

Max nodded, "Yep. Just like that."

Jess shook her head, "It won't work."

"Why not?"

Shin answered with, "Because Rasputin is missing two of his IKELOS prototypes! Powerful weapons, designed to destroy any and all threats!"

Max didn't even stutter, "And they were stolen by SIVA?"

Shin nodded.

The Warlock huffed, "Three guesses as to where they are. All the more reason to attack the Complex!"

"Except," Silver piped up, "the hole in the Cosmodrome Wall will be guarded after my escape! We need another entry point!"

The Warlock sighed, "Alright, so we find another way in. Spread out along the inner edge of the wall, find an opening, any opening!"

Shiro and Silver went in their own direction, looking at the wall and chatting about Max. "Does Max know Lysander?" Shiro asked, "Cause it seems like Max knows his strategies."

Silver replied while feeling the rusted wall with her hand, trying to find a weak spot. "He said Lysander sounded like his betrayer, and that all fascists act the same. He probably made an inference and got lucky."

Shiro sighed, "I guess..."

Silver turned to face her boyfriend, "You suspect otherwise?"

The Exo sighed again and said, "I told him about my mission to rescue you, to save you from SIVA, and he scoffed at the idea of love. And the way he acted towards me in the forges, it sounds like he doesn't care!" He pressed his back to the wall and said, "I idolized him once, read about him in history books, wanted to be like him. To kill off SIVA," he laughed, "to destroy it and become like him. But now? He's resurrected into a new world, but somewhere along the way, Max has lost his heart, his emotions."

Silver paused, "So now you despise him?"

"No, but he makes me wonder about the Before, what his version of democracy is compared to ours."

Silver drew herself closer to Shiro, her stance defiant, "Max is traumatized by his war, and every time he thinks it's over, something else knocks him out of his bliss. It doesn't give him an excuse to be cruel for certain, but we shouldn't be so quick to judge. He also worked with our flaws and put himself last in our strike. He's also a formidable leader if his raids prove anything. He also lets Shin be herself, a recruit who is strong because of her mortality, not in spite of it."

Shiro 'breathed' deeply, "I suppose, but I'm still watching him."

Kaden and Jess were on their own, busy checking the wall for a weak point. Jess asked Kaden, "Do you think Max is a monster? Do you agree with Cass's description of him?"

Kaden tapped the wall to get her attention, then due to his deaf nature, he signed, "No, I disagree with her. Cass would be out of her mind if she came up with such outrageous analogies."

Jess looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You think someone got to her? Someone like Lysander?

"Or something like SIVA."

Jess heaved, "There's something else I wanted to ask about, concerning what you found on Mars."

Kaden nodded, "Go on."

"Well, you said you found a Warmind cortex in the basement of Clovis Bray. Did you discover what it was doing there?"

Kaden paused. For a while, he thought about his analysis and signed, "Maybe. Asher said that the cortex was attacked. His theory lead him to the Pyramidion of Io, we all know how that ended. But after witnessing what SIVA did to the Cosmodrome, I'm starting to think that Warmind cortex was used to monitor SIVA either as an experiment or a prisoner."

"So, SIVA was contained at some point."

"Yes, until the Psion Flayers came and probed the facility. But I don't think we found the source of it."

"Why?"

"Because that room was too small, and whatever nanites were left in that room were stolen."

Shin and Max were off in their own section while they spoke. "Rasputin is missing two weapons from his IKELOS subroutine, and according to him, they are the most dangerous weapons."

"Three guesses as to where they landed," Max said as he scanned the wall, "Did you get the stealth codes?"

"Yeah, but Max, we should be on the lookout."

"For the weapons?" he asked, then laughed, "SIVA has already stolen them, and no one within the Concordat's ranks is allowed to touch such prestige except for Lysander."

Shin eyed him, "You know the Concordat?"

"Factions like them, way back in the Before," Max gritted his teeth, "Nazis, Fascists, Saxon's Legion, they all bow before a militant dictator and reserve only the best for him." He sighed and said, "I thought I destroyed them, their ideology. But no! Even through the Apocalypse they still survive!" He tapped the wall, and could feel it bounce back just a little. Max placed 4 fusion grenades on the borders of the bounce, then ran for cover.

Shin followed him and said, "But you've done your part as a human, now you need to live up to your promise as a Guardian."

"I am," he answered. Max closed his fist and detonated the grenades, breaking off the weakest part of the Cosmodrome wall. The Warlock resumed, "Lysander threatens the City, and I'm determined to stop him!" Then he turned on the radio and said, "Fireteam Omega, I found an opening in the wall! Come to my waypoint, quickly!"

* * *

Vosik stood in the back of Sector A113, a private sector of the Cosmodrome wall dedicated for defense in the Golden Age, but was now an outpost for the cyborgs to conduct missions in Old Russia. A113 was mostly compromised of boxes and old buildings stacked on top of each other in a two-story manner, with the exception of 3 different cranes positioned in the middle, left, and right sides. These cranes helped to inject SIVA nanites into anyone or anything that lacked enough cybernetics.

Vosik stood over the three-story tower of metal boxes towards the back, right next to a giant metal eye-like structure, leading into a tunnel that burrows into the wall. For the Devil's sole Archon Priest, Vosik was living large; without any ties to Ether, Servitors, or Kells of any kind, he and his Fallen could move wherever they could. They could even storm the House of Kings and subject their Archons to the nanites, making them bow to him and Lysander. _All will become his to command!_ An alarm blared throughout the sector, knocking Vosik out of his bliss. "PROTECT THE CRANES!" he shouted, "KILL THE INTRUDERS!"

* * *

Max and his team rushed out of a rusted and winding tunnel to arrive in the open-air Sector A113. The first thing that caught their eye was the tall, robotic Fallen Archon standing near an eye-like structure opposite them. Though the Archon Priest has changed in his appearance, Max recognized him as the one that crawled out of a wall in Dock 13, way back on his first mission. More importantly, Shin recognized the IKELOS fusion rifle that the Archon wielded as his right arm, "You're right Max! The IKELOS weapons are reserved for SIVA's generals!"

Vosik laughed, "And this general will make sure you never reach Lysander alive! Cyborgs! Attack!!!" He fired a giant laser beam at the Guardians, they ducked to cover on either side of A113, and the laser burrowed through the rusted wall, melting the metal in its way. The Archon Priest shouted again, "Protect the cranes, and kill the Guardians!"

Max, Shin, and Kaden were crammed behind their cover on the left side, while Shiro, Silver, and Jess barely squeezed into the right. "What's the plan!?" Jess shouted over the laser fire, "How are we getting into the wall!?"

Max struggled, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Wait!" He paused and thought about the cranes, "I got it! Silver!" he turned to the Hunter with the Vex prosthetic, "What's in your pocket?"

"Why?" she asked, "Why is it important?"

"Because it may be our ticket in! Now, show us!"

She dug out 3 red squares, all glowing with ominous tones. "These things?"

"Yes!" he said excitedly, "Those are perfect! Toss one to me!" Silver did so, though regretted it a second later. He caught it and opened up the top, "This is beautiful! Evil, but beautiful! And our perfect ticket in!"

Shiro asked, "How so?"

Max explained, "SIVA is a nanite cloud, tiny robots to do incredible tasks. But no matter how hard you try to fit a powerful processor into a microscopic space, you just can't do it. That's why SIVA needs computer nodes like this," he flashed the square, "to send tasks to and receive data from the nanites! So if I rewire these semiconductors and those capacitors," the node turned off, then flashed itself back on again in a less ominous tone of red, "I can rewrite the nanites protocols!"

Shin and Silver beamed, but Shiro was a little skeptical, "And what will this do exactly?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know, but right now I need the other two nodes." He caught and rewired them just like the first one, then said, "Catch!" The Warlock tossed the reprogrammed nodes back to Silver and said, "Stuff them into your metal limbs, one node per person."

Silver widened her eyes in shock, "What!?"

Shiro sighed, "I knew it!"

Max reassured them, "Trust me on this!" He ripped off Kaden's left glove and strapped the node into the Exo's arm, much to his resistance. The node didn't infect Kaden, rather Kaden recoded the node instinctively. The Exo opened his eyes after his intense pain and signed, "I have access to the swarm. I can recode the nanites."

Shiro was still a little skeptical but did the same thing nonetheless. He too felt the pain of the node seeping into his circuitry, and vice versa, his circuitry recoding the node to be benign to the Guardians. "I'm also in. I can recode local nanites, but I need to get to one of those cranes."

Silver strapped her node into her leg, but felt nothing. "Not me," she said, "I don't feel a thing!"

The Warlock sighed, "Well, two cranes will do," then he ordered, "Shiro and Jess, go to the right crane! Kaden and Shin, go to the left! Silver and I will stay in the middle and work something out!"

"Like what!?" Silver asked in exasperation.

"We'll wing it!"

The Fireteam split into their respective areas, unsure of what to do next. Shiro and Kaden stared at the cranes in wonder and confusion, leaning back on the cranes after spending a long time killing cyborgs. Shiro holstered his Trespasser and said, "How are we getting out of this?" He leaned back on the vertical of the crane, unknowingly activating it. The crane's arm started to rise, but Shiro was so shocked by the sudden noise that he jumped back, causing the crane to stop. "Whoa!" He pressed his hand on the crane again, raising the arm up to a point where its three metal fingers were splayed out and glowing red. "Guys!" Shiro shouted over the comms, "Touch the cranes!"

Shin pressed her hand against her crane, but nothing happened. "Nothing's happening!"

Kaden signed to her, "Let me try," and pressed his own hand on the crane. Its arm began to raise itself like the other crane. He signed with one arm, "It works, thanks to our nodes. But for what purpose?"

Shin shrugged, "Maybe a weapon against that robot?"

Kaden shrugged as well, "It's glowing and spinning. Is it supposed to do something, or is it just a distraction?"

Shin said the same thing over the comms, signaling to Max that something was wrong. The Warlock stood in mild shock while he burned cyborgs with his Mythoclast. He took a second to think before he thought the obvious. He slapped his forehead and said, "Of course! The cranes have to be connected! Their functions have to match before doing anything!" then he turned to Silver, "Try touching it!"

She did with both arms, "Nothing!"

"Then try your leg!"

She let go of the crane and jerked her Vex prosthetic knee into the crane. The crane's arm lifted itself up and spun just like the other two cranes. Then there was a loud alarm as all three cranes began to drop big globs of SIVA nanites. Max heaved a sigh, Silver just stared at him and the crane in rage, "You told us!"

"I know!" he replied.

"This was your plan!"

"I'm sorry for getting you all into this mess."

Silver let go of the crane, "Sorry isn't going to cut it!" She grabbed a glob and was about to smack Max with it, only to find it glowing with explosive energy. Silver stumbled back with the glob, quickly tossing it away, watching it explode in the distance.

Max stared at the explosion, astonished by the loss of nanites the explosion created. He looked back at Silver with a grin on his face and said, "That's our plan!" She placed her knee back on the crane, causing it to spawn more SIVA globs. Max spoke through the comms, "Shiro and Kaden, keep doing what you're doing! Everyone else, use the crimson globs! Lob them at the robot!"

Shin and Jess did as they were told, lobbing the globs at the robotic Archon Priest, causing it to stagger a lot. Vosik growled and fired back at the Guardians, but was too slow with his shots every time.

Max lobbed another glob at Vosik, causing the Archon to tumble backwards into the eye, breaking the iris doors. The Archon picked himself up and ran like hell in the opposite direction, straight inside the Cosmodrome wall. Max shouted, "After him!" and the Fireteam charged right into a dark and windy corridor.

Fireteam Omega came to a stop at a vent at the end of the corridor. "Dead end," said Max, "The Archon's gone."

Shin joined him, out of breath from her running, "Great! We lost him!"

Jess followed with, "Where could he have gone?"

Max stared at the vent grate that he stood on, taking a minute to process his surroundings. "Oh no!" He turned to Shin and Jess and said, "Get off!" but it was too late. Shiro, Silver, and Kaden ran toward the end of the corridor, tripped on a rusted nut, and stumbled into Jess, Shin, and Max in that order. The vent grate gave up, popping off of its hinges and screws, leaving the Fireteam to fall a good five feet into a large room filled with monitors and SIVA wires. The room had 4 smaller rooms off to the sides, and the front wall was made entirely of monitors, both big and small.

Max was the first after 4 seconds of pain, "Ow! That really smarts!"

Shin rose to her feet next, "Oof! What kind of corridor leads to a five-foot drop!?"

Silver brushed herself off, "I don't know, but I think it leads into a trap."

Jess lightly scoffed, "What kind of trap involves a monitor-laden room?"

A loud pulse emanated from the monitors' direction, followed by a glowing red burst of energy. Vosik apparated out of the red burst, his servos recalibrating after his teleport and the Guardians' attack. The robotic Archon stood to his full height and said, "You will not reach my master alive!" and he fired a giant laser beam at the Fireteam.

Max shouted, "Scatter!" And they did, narrowly avoiding the laser. Shiro's leg was scraped by the beam and he screamed in pain. The Warlock turned to his teammate and asked, "Are you alright, Shiro?"

"Yeah," he winced, "One of my servos is frozen though. The laser cut through my wire."

"Ow! Alright, get it fixed, then we'll figure out our next-" another laser cut through the air, freaking Max out, "Defensive stations! Everyone! Jess, protect Shiro on the right side! Shin and Kaden, go to the left side! Silver and I will take the middle! We need the same strategy as before, so start looking for SIVA cranes!"

"Roger!" Jess said.

"Aye aye!" Shin replied.

Vosik fired another laser at Max, but failed to hit his mark. The Warlock fired his Mythoclast back at Vosik, not a single bolt could penetrate the metal limbs. Max growled at himself, _Idiot! You need reprogrammed SIVA to kill the robot!_ Then his mind flashed to the room and the wires covering the walls and floor, "That's it!"

Silver looked at him in confusion, "What is?"

Max told everyone, "Grab some wires! Cut them out of the floor!"

Shiro asked, "Why?"

"Because your nodes can reprogram the nanites! Now do it!"

Shiro and Kaden grabbed a couple of wires on their sides, the crimson wires stretched with their grasps. Jess and Shin wasted no time in cutting the wires free, instantly transforming them into crimson globs. Max and Silver provided cover fire while the other team members cut wires and lobbed bombs. Vosik growled, and one of the monitors started to glow. Silver shouted, "SHOOT IT!" Everyone did as she said, the monitor broke apart, revealing a dark gash in the wall.

Max asked, "Why shoot it? It's just a monitor."

Silver corrected him, "Any electronic that is infected by SIVA has the potential to infect others through its medium."

Max widened his eyes in shock, then said, "Ok, lob bombs and destroy monitors. Sounds good to me!"

Vosik growled again as more bombs were lobbed, and he fired his laser gun at Max and Silver. The two Guardians destroyed another monitor, Shin lobbed a bomb at the Archon and hit his head, deactivating his shield. Max accidentally fired his Mythoclast at Vosik again, only to find that it DID affect his metal skin. The Warlock shouted, "OPEN FIRE!" All 6 Guardians focused their firepower at Vosik, damaging his metal shell. Silver threw a grenade at the robotic Archon, destroying his left arm.

Vosik stumbled back, raised his right arm, his gun arm, and all of the monitors began to glow. SIVA nanites flowed out of the monitors and charged at the Fireteam, Max panicked and rushed into the closest small room he could find, his Fireteam in tow. Shiro acted on instinct and pressed his hand near the wired doorway. The node inside his hand recoded the wires to close off the room from the nanites, which burrowed into the wires and flowed back into the walls and floor. The wires broke off the door and dissolved into the floor, and the Fireteam ran out to meet their opponent again.

Vosik growled one more time, "FALLEN! ATTACK THE GUARDIANS!" Cyborgs began pouring out of the walls, the monitors began to glow one at a time, and the Guardians had to face them all. Shiro, Silver, and Kaden cut off segments of SIVA and lobbed them at Vosik and the monitors. Max, Shin, and Jess killed the waves of cyborgs while occasionally switching to shooting the monitors. Vosik fired another laser at the Fireteam, but missed by a long shot.

Shiro lobbed another SIVA bomb at Vosik, this time at his other arm, and shouted at Max, "Shoot at the shoulder!" The Warlock fired everything he had at the Archon's shoulder servo, the bomb landed on the servo at just the right time; it exploded, the Mythoclast burned its way through the metal and the bolts, the excess reprogrammed SIVA tore through the burnt metal and blew the arm away from the robotic torso. Jess scrambled to the arm with the laser cannon and snatched it. Vosik growled again, the monitors glowed once more, and the SIVA nanites that came from the monitors formed 2 sword arms into Vosik's shoulders. He charged at Jess, she and Kaden ran away, bumping into Silver and Max. Vosik had caught up with the four Guardians, ready to finish them. Silver grabbed the laser cannon, aimed at Vosik's head, and pulled the trigger. The cannon charged and fired its most accurate laser at Vosik's head, melting it into oblivion.

The Archon didn't scream, for he had no mouth or head to scream from. In the absence of its brain, the robotic chassis fell to its knees first before falling chest down into the floor. The nanite arms dissolved into the floor, and the wires in the floor and walls retreated behind the monitors. The ones that remained were frozen in their glowing state, then fell down and broke themselves apart into plastic, circuitry, glass, and liquid crystal. The room was later revealed to be a rusted security station from the Old Russian Cosmodrome wall, a station that had a wall cavity leading to the inner structure, filled with I-beams and metal trusses. Max pointed to the cavity and said, "Onward!"


	15. Engines of War

The obese Emperor Calus Valu'uzar lay asleep in his bed, with Empress Rehla, the Psion, at his side. As he snored, Rehla rose from her sleep and walked around the bed to the main bedroom doors and opened them, inviting a stronger, bolder, braver, and more commanding Cabal leader: Ghaul Valu'uzar, the Ghost Primus. Once the son of the emperor, later placed on mission after mission to secure planets for his father, Ghaul had enough scars that covered his body, scars and sacrifices that he held against the Emperor. He held a massive axe in one hand and approached Calus while he was sleeping. Calus began to have a seizure, waking him up. He looked at Rehla's side of the bed and gasped, "Rehla!" then he jerked his head to the right and saw his wife standing beside his son. "Ghaul! Unhand your mother, or else I will-"

"You'll exile me?" scoffed Ghaul, "No, father, you will not."

"Why not? I can do it in a heartbeat!"

"Rehla and The Consul have agreed on your removal. They argued that you are too bureaucratic and authoritarian with your actions, and that you are too weak and fat to sit on the throne."

Calus was outraged, "I NEVER GAVE-"

Ghaul laughed, "Who said that you did?" then his tone hardened, "You never gave our Empire anything! These suicide missions that you sent your Primi on were nothing more than to temporarily satisfy your lust and hunger for power!"

Calus was scared, but he didn't hesitate to fight, "I'll show you what happens when-oof!" He fell to the floor as soon as he raised himself from the bed.

Ghaul stood over his fat father, "You only rule and command from behind our borders because you have forgotten what it means to fear defeat. Allow me to reacquaint you." He quickly bound Calus by the wrists behind his back and tied his ankles together.

An older Cabal entered the room and said, "Dominus Ghaul, your revolution has been a success! What should be the Emperor's sentence?"

"Public execution, my dear Consul!" declared Ghaul, "We'll show our Empire what happens when glutton, greed, pride, and sloth interfere with us!"

The next morning, Ghaul addressed the Cabal Empire on Calus's balcony, "Today, we celebrate the restructuring of the Cabal Empire! For too long, the Emperor has used his power and authority to fatten himself with the spoils of war! For too long, the Emperor has sent Primus after Primus to suicide missions while he sits back with unlimited opulence! No more!" With a swinging gesture of his hand, Emperor Calus was pushed forward wearing nothing but a loincloth. The crowd laughed at the embarrassed Emperor. Calus frowned at the crowd, at his torn banners hanging high above the streets, _My people betrayed me..._ Ghaul continued, "Today, the Cabal will have their revenge!"

The Consul kicked Calus down to his knees and brought his neck down on his backless throne. "Are you praying to Acrius now, old friend?" he whispered nastily.

Calus spat, "I don't need to."

Rehla came forward with two ceremonial axes, the same ones that Calus used to ordain Primi during his reign, and positioned them above his neck. Ghaul snapped his fingers, the torn banners bearing Calus's symbol were released from their supports, revealing the new banners bearing the old symbols of the Empire. Calus stared at the symbol in shock and disbelief, _No! It can't be! I killed off that faction years_ _ago_ _!_

Rehla brought the axes down on Calus's lack of a neck, severing his head. Ghaul lifted the head above the crowd, "The old ways of laziness are gone. Long live the Red Legion!"

* * *

Fireteam Omega may be a lot of things, but they were not parkour masters. Exiting from Vosik's old lair, Max and Jess effortlessly glided from platform to platform, occasionally skipping over midway I-beams, while Shiro, Silver, and Kaden had to jump from one rusted platform to another, double jumping often to regain their balance. Shin had the most difficult time parkouring, given her mortality; she jumped like her Hunter teammates, but had to use her knives to stabilize herself or climb to the next ledge. She huffed to herself at some point before deciding to use the metal walls as her climbing gym. Shin stabbed two of her knives into the metal, using them to move her body across the chasm below. Shiro looked at Shin and shouted, "Are you crazy!?"

Shin shouted back, "You tell me, am I crazy for creating my own knife climbing gym, or for trying to double jump from each platform?"

"This is EXACTLY why the Vanguard doesn't let you out of the Tower!"

"And this raid on Lysander's encampment is exactly why I-" her right hand knife failed to stab into its next part of the wall, causing her to fumble, "-WHOA!" Shin accidentally dropped her knife.

Max wasted no time in reaching out for a metal cable, drawing it in with his electrical charges. He grabbed the cable and looked down, _Oof! Too far of a drop!_ Beads of sweat dribbled from his face, his old fear of heights was starting to kick in. Everyone looked at him dumbfounded, as if to say, "What are you going to do!?" He heaved, forcing his fear out of his mind, then swung from the cable and screamed like a George of the Jungle, "OH WAAHH OOOOHHHH!!"

Shin was quickly swiped by the waist and taken back to safety by the Warlock within the returning swing. She was a little shocked after Max's scream, "Why did you do that!?"

Max said, "Well, you were in trouble."

"No, why did you scream like that?"

The Warlock began to sweat again, "Oh, um...I...er...it's from an old movie."

Silver ran up to meet them, "Well, let's get moving!"

"Oh...right!" Max replied, "But we need to get up to the top. I need a better vantage point than the interior."

The Fireteam walked through ascending staircases before reaching the top of the Cosmodrome wall. Max pushed against a hatch, leading to the actual top, and climbed through it to see the Cosmodrome to his right and the rusted cars on the ground to his left. From the Cosmodrome side, he saw his entry in A113 to his right and the giant hole in the wall to his left, piecing together a small map in his head of where they were and where they need to go. Shin followed him and tried to grab his attention, "Hey, Max."

The Warlock turned to meet her, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving me back there."

He laughed, "Don't worry about it, you probably would've done the same thing, just without the screaming."

Shin giggled, "Yeah, that's true." Then she turned a little serious, "And thanks for standing by me, after all this time."

"As I said, don't..." Before Max could say another word, he found himself squeezed from the hip, Shin was hugging him tightly. "Ahhhh...." he froze in shock, "...um...ok?" The last time Max was in a relationship was when he led the assassination mission, right before his girlfriend betrayed him to Saxon, and the Warlock wasn't sure if he could ever start another one without the same result.

Shin looked up at him and said, "What's wrong?"

He closed his eyes and wept, "I am. You saw my past, you know my sins topple anyone else's. Why are you still here with me?"

"Because you're not wrong, you're just in a lot of pain. I'm fighting alongside you, not just against the Hive or SIVA, but against your pain and dark thoughts." She turned Max's head towards her own, "I'm here with you, even after the end of time." Shin kissed him once on the lips, but Max just stood there in confusion. She smiled and said, "Maybe after this, I treat you to some ramen or sushi?"

"Uh...sure..."

Jess popped her head out of the hatch to find her sister kiss the Warlock, and sighed, "If only Cass could treat me like that again..."

Silver crawled out of the hatch after Jess, then hoisted Shiro up into fresh air, quietly asking him, "Remember when we looked like that," gesturing to Max and Shin.

Shiro chuckled, "Remember it? Aren't we living it?"

Max and Shin turned around at the sound of Shiro. The Warlock froze, "Oh my Traveler!"

"Wha!?" Shin widened her eyes before furrowing her eyebrows, "Were you spying on us!?"

Silver replied with a smug grin, "Well, is it really spying when you let us join your team?"

Max's eyes darted, his mind was aimlessly wandering. "Er...well...no?"

Kaden crawled out last, and began to sign to Jess, "So, why are we looking at Max and Shin?"

A sudden squeal of metal snapped the Fireteam back into reality. Max turned his head toward the squeal and found a giant siege machine made out of scrap and SIVA, armed with all kinds of guns and spikes as defenses. He screamed out, "RUN!" before the machine could even move. Everyone else stared at the machine for a second, noting its initial slow movement began to pick up steam.

They all ran across the top of the wall, firing bullets and energy bolts over their shoulders at the machine. One of Shiro's Trespasser shots hit one of the guns in the barrel, exploding the gun from within. The machine began to wheeze, and the Exo gleamed, "Everyone, fire at the guns!" The Fireteam did exactly that, running a few yards ahead of the machine before taking their shots. Shin, Jess, and Silver whipped out their snipers and took aim at the guns, destroying one after the other. Max, Kaden, and Shiro performed similarly, though they were a bit wilder with their shots, firing at whatever they could on the machine. One by one, the machine's defenses were disabled, and as the last one burst into pieces, the entire machine screeched to a complete halt.

Max cheered, "We did it, guys! Now let's move...on.." his grin turned into a frown as his eyes lay upon a giant wall of scrap covering the width of the Cosmodrome wall, ascending to a good 10 yards. Max's initial frown straightened out, "Ok, we work with this. I just need to see that machine."

Shiro grabbed him by the collar and said, "Are you crazy!? That machine tried to kill us!"

"Yes, it did. But we can reprogram it!"

"HOW!?"

Max pointed to Shiro's augmented arm and said, "You know how. Now let me go!" Shiro dropped Max and jumped up to the machine's deck, with the Fireteam following his lead. He found a console cavity that once had SIVA as its pilot, but has since dissolved. Shiro thrust his fist into the cavity, but nothing happened. Max looked around the deck, only to find 3 other cavities in the engine, driveshaft, and battery. "Ok, we can work with this too. I need someone to find or build a driveshaft, an engine cylinder, and a battery."

Shiro lifted his fist from the console, and said, "You're the only one of us who knows what those things mean, so how can we build or find them!?"

"An engine is simple, it's a metal cylinder that takes in fuel and pumps out thrust." The Warlock checked another cylinder hatch and opened it, saying, "Most engines have multiple cylinders, and this one has 4. I'll get the other three scrubbed while you try to replicate this design." Max left Shiro to study the cylinder while he pulled Kaden toward the driveshaft cavity, "Kaden, your job will be to build a driveshaft. Do you know what one is?"

"Sort of," he signed, "It's a rod that translates torque into momentum."

"Yep, and you know what it looks like?"

Kaden shook, "Not really."

"Well you were right about the rod, it just has a 360 degree joint at one or both ends."

Kaden nodded, "I think I got it."

"Good," Max moved on to the battery cavity, "Now this one is a little tricky, but a battery is usually made of a cathode and an anode separated by an acidic paste, or something like it to store a charge. Silver, can you find battery components?"

She laughed, "Why build something you already have?"

Max turned to her, "You have one?"

Silver bent her back, kept her legs planted to the ground, reached behind her Vex Prosthetic leg, and ripped out a large City-made battery, "Here you go." She snapped it into place into the cavity, a perfect fit. "Will it be enough to power this behemoth?"

"I hope so," the Warlock replied.

Shiro and Kaden scavenged parts from the wrecked guns to build the driveshaft and engine cylinder, with Kaden teaching Shiro on how to build such a cylinder. They placed the 'new' compartments into their respective cavities, and Shiro went back to his console cavity, "Let's fire this baby up!"

The Exo Hunter thrust his hand into the cavity once again, this time the machine squealed forward, slowly picking up speed as it moved. Max and the others held on to something on the deck as the machine sped towards the giant wall of scrap. "It's working!" Max shouted in delight, "It's actually working!" The machine charged through the wall without any problems.

Shin spotted the hole in the Cosmodrome wall just ahead, "Just a little bit further."

Shiro tried removing his hand, but the console wouldn't let him. "Uh, Silver? I have a problem!"

Silver stared at Shiro's hand in horror, the SIVA nanites left on board had wrapped themselves around his fingers and were crawling up his wrist. She tugged at the arm with Shiro and all of her own might, but to no avail. The nanites crawled further up Shiro's lower arm, and Silver painfully said, "I'm sorry." She summoned a Void knife and cut halfway through Shiro's arm. Her boyfriend screamed in pain as she dragged him away from his lost hand.

The Hunter's old hand began to catch fire, the machine had followed a slant in the Cosmodrome wall, right before the giant hole that was guarded by cyborgs. The machine picked up even more speed as it fell, Max shouted, "Abandon ship! Everyone!" The Fireteam ran out the back, landing on the stable floor of the wall, leaving the machine to fall on top of the cyborgs, killing them all with one explosion. They looked down at the wreckage, staring at the scattered scrap and dead bodies. Max jumped down, gliding at the last minute, "Come on guys! We're not done yet!" The others followed him, down to the ground, and down into the large hole.

* * *

Cass sat in her cell, dejected as ever. Her SIVA mirror asked, "Why so glum?"

The Titan sighed, "Max is still out there, how can you be certain that this all going according to your plan!?"

The mirror grinned, "Remember Lysander? How he cured you with me?"

"Yeah," Cass scoffed, "What about him?"

"Let's just say," the mirror pressed its fingers together, "He's small fry compared to our plan."

"And what does this plan entail?"

"What we have, what we want, and what we are. We have an army coming to destroy the Guardians, we want total control over the world, and we are the only ones who can execute this plan. And why?"

"Because we are Cass," replied the Titan, "We are destined to rule!"


	16. Dei Ex Machina

Fireteam Omega entered a server farm, small pillars of processors, and SIVA wires were uniformly placed about the farm, computing thousands upon thousands of different functions, all serving one singular purpose. Exiting the server farm, Max led his Fireteam through a series of tall hallways, all of which had metal bridges on which they walked, and 2 stories below them were rows of SIVA enhanced tanks, ships, and other large weapons of war. "If any of these machines reach the Last City," Max commented, "We're finished!"

Silver saw the giant octahedron through a doorway on her left and said, "Over here!"

Max backed up to look through the door and said, "This way?"

Silver nodded, "Yes! I remember this room specifically!" She walked in and stared at the Octahedron and the wires connected below it, "Could this be powering something?"

Max looked at the wires, his eyes following them on the ground, reaching beyond the walls and ending inside the tanks and ships. "Yeah, these tanks," he replied, then with a grin he asked, "How fast can we blow this place up?"

Shiro scoffed, "Hours if you're lucky."

"And if we blow up this octahedron?"

Shiro calculated the time in his head, then replied, "Less. One perfect explosion, and the whole operation goes down."

Max grinned, "Then let's light it up!"

"I said 'perfect explosion', and none of our grenades will make a dent in that thick shell!" Shiro exclaimed, "Unless you can get inside..."

The Warlock said, still grinning, "Oh I have a way. Shiro, Kaden, and Silver will come with me, Shin and Jess will stay here. We will open up this octahedron, and we will blow it sky high!"

The three Hunters with reprogrammed SIVA nodes were led back to the server farm, where they were instructed to rip out and rearrange the server blocks, hopefully to reprogram the giant octahedron to expose itself. After a few minutes of rearranging blocks from one server pillar to another, Shin and Jess shouted from the other room, "It's open!"

Max grinned, "And there's our window of opportunity! Come on guys, let's light it up!" The Fireteam reconvened in the octahedron's room, threw all kinds of elemental grenades at it, timing it so that the Arc grenades fried the wires, the Solar ones would burn their weak points, and the Void grenades would erase any traces of SIVA and intrusion, in theory at least. He detonated the grenades, completely destroying the giant octahedron and lighting every wire like a fuse. "Run! RUN!" The fuses reached the tanks and ships, blowing them up and crippling the entire server farm. The Fireteam ran down the only set of stairs leading to the Perfection Complex, SIVA's only command center, running away from the exploding armaments and the crumbling rooms and staircases.

Max saw the Complex as another giant Octahedron, this one glowing red on the edges, similar to SIVA's crumbling armory behind them. All 6 reached the entrance to the Complex, the floor lit up subtly to reveal the hole in the middle, falling straight down to the real Perfection Complex. They all jumped down, landing in a pitch dark room. Max pulled out his Ghost to light up the floor and tried to look at this Complex's interior, confused by the Warmind-like Architecture. "I don't understand!" He said, "SIVA has been sloppy in its forges, defenses, and conquering of the Cosmodrome. It had all the hallmarks of a former enemy, yet this place is so refined, calculated, and unlike him!"

"Who is 'him'?" Shin asked.

"Erik Larsen, the traitor!"

"Traitor?" A new voice hissed, "I'm the traitor for obeying my duty?"

Max turned to face the voice's source, a robotic man attached to the far wall that was recently lit, his legs were absent, several wires were dangling from the inside of his torso, and his metal skull helped to heal his scar while still preserving the swastika tattoo on his bald head. The Warlock recognized him immediately and gritted his teeth, "I knew it! You're the one controlling SIVA!"

"Wrong!" Larsen hissed again, "I can't control SIVA, I never could! She is spreading beyond measure, making an army for the ultimate mission!"

"What army?" The Warlock asked, "We just destroyed your armory and your server farms!"

Erik glared at his nemesis with his cold red eyes, "You WHAT!? WHY MUST YOU STAND IN THE WAY OF PROGRESS!?"

"BECAUSE IT ISN'T PROGRESSING ANYTHING!" Max shouted back, "YOUR IDEALS ENSLAVED GUARDIANS AND FALLEN ALIKE! FASCISM IS NOT A WAY FORWARD, ONLY BACKWARD!"

Erik Larsen screamed as his body was hoisted away from the wall by a single metal rod, "THEN YOU SHALL DIE DEFENDING YOUR PATHETIC DEMOCRACY!"

A wave of cyborg Titans and Hunters poured out of the side rooms, lighting up the entire Perfection Complex. It was similar to Rasputin's bunker architecture, except for the fact that SIVA wires were fed through the walls and floors cleanly and behind some sort of glass. The only place where the wires were exposed was right next to Erik; every wire fed into his body through the metal rod. The main floor was square shaped and divided into three separate floors, the one in the center led to a small V-shape that was lower than the outside rectangles, which was raised on the left and right. Erik Larsen was hovering above another raised square higher than the rectangles, a symbol of his own mechanical apotheosis. An apotheosis that Fireteam Omega must reverse.

Max shouted, "Same pairs, same positions, let's go!"

Shiro, now with only his recessive hand, shot down a bunch of cyborgs with the Trespasser, but only by pure luck. His clipped arm, the one with the reprogrammed node, was trying to stabilize his hand, but it wasn't as good as a real hand. The nanites that popped out of the cyborg corpses saw this weakness and attacked Shiro without hesitation. "Augh!" The Exo Hunter yelped, "Shin! Help me!"

Erik laughed, "Poor Shiro-4, you never could resist curiosity could you!?"

Shiro bit down, "I will not be bullied by the Concordat!" He gathered the nanites into a large ball and lobbed them at Erik, causing the robotic dictator to stumble.

Lysander growled again, "I will break you!" summoning his own ball of SIVA nanites in his own hands, coming from 2 exposed SIVA nodes on Erik's platform, just like the ones in the Exo's arms and Silver's leg.

Silver and Kaden drew their nanites from their own stashes of corpses as well, lobbing their bombs at the exposed nodes. Erik's nanites exploded in his face and he growled one more time. More exposed nodes began to glow, this time from the middle of the lowered floor and all 4 sides of Erik's platform. Shiro, Silver, and Kaden drew nanites into their fold, lobbing them as fast as they can at the nodes. All 5 were successfully destroyed.

Erik's nanites exploded again, "AAARRRGH! CYBORGS STOP-" Max shot into Erik's torso from below, melting 3 different microcontrollers. Lysander growled again, "MUST I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF!?" He lowered himself into a hole in the platform, breaking the shell into pieces and releasing numerous wires, revealing six metal spider legs attached to Erik's body. Larsen unsheathed a pulse rifle from his side and began firing at the Guardians, "YOU WILL ALL BOW TO MY WHIM!"

Max and the others ran from every single one of Erik's shots, ducking behind pillars and low walls. Shin pointed at the pulse rifle and said, "That's the other weapon!"

"I know!" Max replied, "But we need a strategy to kill Erik, and fast!" He saw Erik teleporting to the right, and ducked behind new cover in response.

Larsen teleported over to the right side first, firing his pulse rifle at Max in laughing hatred. "What are you going to do now, Warlock!?" He teleported to the left side next, scaring Max's team with every burst from the corrupted pulse rifle. He teleported back to his platform and raised his arm in the air, summoning as many nanites as he could in the room, ready to detonate them into Fireteam Omega.

Shiro raised his severed arm in response, drawing in his own set of nanites from the ground. Kaden did the same thing with his left hand, while Silver stabbed an octahedron with her prosthetic to gather her nanites. All three Hunters threw their own SIVA Bombs at Erik, dazing him as he teleported to the left side first, his back faced the ceiling as he lay helpless. Shin jumped onto his back and severed a few exposed wires, spraying aimless nanites into the air. Shiro threw an Arc grenade at broken wires, zapping the robotic dictator into submission.

Erik howled in pain as he raised himself up, his aim disoriented by the excess voltage and the loss of nanites. Max shouted, "Now, team! Fire at his head!" Every shot never waived as they made beeline after beeline to attack the SIVA dictator. Erik roared in pain and teleported to lower platform firing his pulse rifle at Max and Silver. Silver ran up to Erik's back, stabbed her Void knives into his nodes, frying microchips and locking his servos, finishing her turn with three Void arrows into his chest. The dictator froze, but could still cry out in pain as Max and his Fireteam continued to fire at Erik's head. He regained control once again, teleporting to the right platform, and was immediately met by Kaden's Arc Blade driven down his spine. He screamed in agony as his nanites began spilling out of his back and onto the floor. Kaden fired 7 bullets from his hand cannon into the exposed back, Erik teleported to the rear platform, trying to escape. Max caught him just in time and ripped off his right arm, dropping the pulse rifle. Max fired another blast from his Mythoclast at Erik's head, melting the metal swastika off and exposing his CPU.

Erik Larsen hissed and moved back to his own platform, "No! I will not be destroyed again!" The rod from the wall attached to his back, and he began to glow an ominous red, "I will rule forever!"

Max picked up the pulse rifle and aimed, but Silver interrupted him, "Don't! He's bound to explode with any projectile!"

"Then how do we kill him!?"

Shiro walked to Silver and Max, saying, "I'll do it."

Silver looked at him with widened eyes, "No! You can't! I'll do it! I'll smash the CPU and reprogram the nanites! I'm already dying!"

Shiro shook his head, "No, Silver. This is my duty, my purpose. No one else can do this."

"But why!?"

The world stood still for a moment between their eyes, and he kissed her on the lips for one last time, "Because I love you."

The Exo stood, ran to the left side before jumping onto Erik and pressing his severed hand into the exposed CPU. Shiro cried out in pain as his node fought against Erik's program, causing the dictator to retract his glowing nanites into himself, internally fighting against Shiro. Erik growled, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY ARMY!"

Max didn't hesitate to blast at Erik's eyes and chest, causing the robotic dictator to malfunction. Shiro took this opportunity to thrust the node further into Erik's head, crushing his processors and memory. Erik screamed loudly in anguish as every system of his began to fail, bursting into flames and exploding into a million pieces, sending Shiro flying into the abyss.

The damaged head of Erik landed at Max's feet, with only one system left: the vocal processor. "I...bought...time. For...them. my army...endures...for-"

Max crushed Erik under his boot, finally killing his nemesis, and smiled through gritted teeth, "It's done! The SIVA crisis is no more!" His teeth loosened, "The perils of the past haunt us no more."

Silver turned to Max and asked, "Us? Don't you mean yourself?"

Max blinked, "No, I mean us. We killed off Fascism, we destroyed Erik and SIVA, we have saved the City from a potential disaster! We won!"

"But Max, did we save the City? Or did we just boost your own ego?"

"I stand for the people!" he shouted, "Erik was going to kill and enslave as many people as he could find, he did so with SIVA!"

"I know that!" Silver shouted, "But you didn't have to include your rivalry into this mess! We could've done the same exact thing without your vengeance! Hellmouth, Shiro might still be alive!"

Max scowled, "This is war, Silver! It never changes and it never will! Without reprogramming your nodes, we'd all be dead! Without Shiro's guidance and sacrifice, we'd be dead! And don't think you're the only one who lost someone; Jess lost her girlfriend to the Concordat, Shin lost her mentor to Dredgen Yor and her mother to the City's corrupt police, I lost my friends to a dictator and my followers to his nations." Max sighed and calmed down, "I'm sorry for lashing out, Silver. My point is we all lose something precious, and the only thing that we can do is to keep moving forward by learning from our losses."

Shin stared at the Warlock, dismayed at what she heard, "Max, we just lost a Guardian, Silver lost her boyfriend, and you feel nothing?"

Max shook his head, "No, I know Shiro was important. But we have more important matters to attend to, like killing a Hive God."

* * *

Cass cried out in pain as her mirror began laughing. "What's going on?"

The mirror laughed, "I'm assuming command!"

"What does that mean?!"

"Lysander is dead, and my next host is you. Remember what I said?"

Cass nodded in pain, "We are Cass."

"And we will be the ruler of this City once they arrive! But you must first be enhanced."

"For what purpose!?"

"Strength and immortality. The only two qualities of a great Fuhrer."

Cass could feel her nanites poking through her plasteel skin, creating new holes for wires to weave through, and assembling jet black triangular metal plates to protect her from any kinds of attacks. Her skin went ash white, her veins, wires, and eyes glowed bright red. She drew her hammer, and its flames began to glow red. The Titan looked up and said, "I AM CASSANDRA! I AM THE CITY'S FORGE!"


	17. Chapels and Seraphs

Max, Shin, Jess, Silver, and Kaden climbed out of the ditch that held the now dead Perfection Complex. On the surface of the Cosmodrome, tentacles and octahedrons began to dissolve back into nanites, no purpose to direct them. Max looked at the Cosmodrome in contentment, "The SIVA crisis is over, our work here is done."

Shin turned to him, "What about Rasputin's weapons? Shouldn't we return them?"

Max shrugged, "We could...but I kinda like this pulse rifle."

"That pulse rifle almost killed us and caused a viral Outbreak!" Silver protested.

"Sure, and Erik was a fascist, but now he's a dead one! There's no harm in using SIVA now. Well, no harm to us."

Silver sighed, "Fine, but I want your other weapon."

Max looked at the Mythoclast, "What!? You want me to give you my Vex Mythoclast!? But it's my best weapon!"

The Hunter crossed her arms, "It's either that or the pulse rifle." The Warlock sighed and handed the Mythoclast off to Silver. As soon as it touched her hand, the scope glowed red and Silver fell to the ground with a migraine, "AUGH!"

Max grabbed the Mythoclast, only to be launched into a myriad of visions. "SILVER?" he shouted into the abyss between visions, "SILVER!?" The visions he encountered were a mix of past and future. The past of Silver's failed strike into a Vex Pyramidion on Io came first, her team consisted of a different Exo Hunter and an elderly Awoken Warlock, the former destroyed and the latter's arm soaked in Vex Radiolaria. Silver pulled her team out, but during her escape, she tripped over a dead Goblin, trapping her foot in the radiolarian case, soaking it. When she raised her foot, it had changed from a human foot encased in a boot into a 3-toed Vex peg. The Awoken's arm had also begun to change, the lower arm changed its organic composition into a sturdy brass one. Max thought to himself, _What kind of transformation is this!?_

The second vision was of the Dreadnought, Oryx's Taken growing in ranks. Standing in The Court of Oryx, a figure who looked like an Awoken royal with a spiky collar and a coat oozing with Darkness led a quarter of the Taken soldiers through a portal to who knows where, among the marchers were Cabal, Vex, Hive, Fallen, and all of the Awoken, all souls that were Taken.

The third vision described a future, one where the City was in flames, under attack from an unknown enemy, veiled behind the clouds. A Vex Hydra whirred behind him, trying to speak Max's fluent language, "This is your inevitable future, Worldbreaker."

Silver and Max let go of the Mythoclast, dropping down to the Cosmodrome's ground without a spare breath. Shin rushed to his aid, "What happened?"

He looked into his partner's eyes, scared of what he saw, "The City! It was in flames!"

Jess contacted the Vanguard, checking in to make sure they were okay. "Commander Zavala?"

"Yes, Guardian," his voice was calm as ever, "What is your report?"

Jess sighed, half of relief and half of sorrow, "Commander, we lost Shiro-4." Jess heard a loud thud on the other end and asked out of concern, "Commander?"

"I'm fine. But Cayde... Cayde fainted."

Max snatched the Mythoclast and spoke to his team, "We don't have a lot of time, so I'll make this quick. Oryx is ready to attack our City, so we must prevent this. Shin and I will go to the Hellmouth, steal Crota's soul, then race to the Dreadnought to kill Oryx."

"And what about us!?" Silver shouted, "Are the rest of us just sitting around while you two have your fun!?"

Shin shook her head, "No, I want you and Jess to go to Mars for Rasputin. He said that his memory banks hold mysterious images of a Clovis Bray facility beneath an icecap, but he doesn't know how or why they got there."

Silver huffed, "And how can I trust you two!? Maybe if you never took up this task in the Cosmodrome, Shiro would still be alive!"

Kaden placed a hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention as he signed, "I know that you are still bitter over Shiro's sacrifice, but it's not your fault or ours. Erik caused the SIVA crisis, he tried to kill us all in a massive explosion, and he would've succeeded if Shiro didn't override his circuitry. He wanted you to be alive."

"And you know this how?" Silver angrily asked.

Shin pointed to her teammate's pocket and said, "He left his sidearm in your pocket," she twirled her Last Word, "and we both know what given mementos mean."

Silver lifted the Trespasser out of her pocket, inspecting its paint splotches and other details. She felt the cold metal against her glove, recounting every happy memory with Shiro. Into the close distance, she aimed and fired at a tree, the burst of bullets slammed into the bark, chipping it. She sniffled one last time, then sheathed the Trespasser into her belt. "I'm ready."

"Then you'll need this," Max handed her the pulse rifle they dubbed Outbreak Prime, then the Fireteam left the Cosmodrome.

* * *

Oryx's twin daughters, Ir Halak and Ir Anuk slowly floated down the hallway leading to the Chamber of Night. Behind them was a dark green urn emblazoned with Crota's sigil, no doubt containing the Prince's ashes. Behind the urn marched three Knights, one of whom wore his enemies' skulls and bones as his armor, and his helmet was a triangular skull, all of which were hardened by pure Hadium. Behind the Knights came a congregation of Acolytes, and behind them was only silence. The daughters placed the Urn in the center of the Chamber, right where Crota's soul stone was, and the lead Knight said his piece, "Believers, we are gathered today to mourn the loss of our beloved prince..."

* * *

Shin and Max landed inside the Hellmouth's Fortress, walking in the direction of the Chamber of Night. Following Eris's instructions, they gathered bone marrow from Thrall, then began adding the essence of greater Hive to it. With the marrow and their LOKI CLOAK, the Guardians once again walked into the Chamber of Night.

While cloaked, they slipped past the feeding Thrall and Ogres in the hallway, and then arrived at the Chamber of Night itself in the midst of a funeral, the ambient chorus of the Deathsingers filled the room with. The Warpriest stood in front of the urn, preaching with a bellowing voice about the Sword-Logic and Crota's devotion to it, "Our Lord was an avid champion of the Sword Logic, and it is his sacrifice to it that we honor today." Max and Shin snuck past the congregation via the side lanes with the marrow in their hands, avoiding the praying Acolytes and Knights. They approached the urn and silently applied the marrow, draining the essence of Crota. The chorus grew louder, the priest added more fire and brimstone to his sermon, "We honor Crota's death, for his Father, our God is a mighty God," the Warpriest continued, "He aids us, drives us to do His bidding. And He smites His enemies with unquenchable fire!" The Warpriest drew his giant sword, turned 180 degrees, and slammed it into the urn, shattering it and releasing a powerful burst of green flames, washing over everything in the Chamber of Night.

Max and Shin stood up, their cloaked outline now covered in a green aura. The congregation howled in rage, the Deathsingers hissed, but the Warpriest said, "Hush, my loyal followers! These two wanted to attend Crota's funeral, and so they did," the priest's mouth curved into a very sinister grin, "Perhaps we ought to bring them to Oryx!"

Max fired his Mythoclast in protest, aiming straight at one of the Deathsinger's heads. The bullets scratched her conicular helmet, irritating her. She cast two binding spells on Max and Shin, freezing them in place and tying their wrists and ankles together. The two Knights guarding the Warpriest picked the Guardians up and brought them over to their preacher, leaving them up for inspection. Max spat, "Crota murdered thousands of people, and you honor him as if he's a saint! You all sicken me!"

"Impressive," the Warpriest said, "the persistence of weak creatures. You're not strong, yet you keep insisting you are, physically and morally." He crouched down to Max's eye level, "Oryx has seen your kind, Warlock. He knows your weakness and wants to annihilate it; Let him in."

"I bowed to God before, and he did nothing to save humanity! You know why?"

The Warpriest boomed for all to hear, "Pray tell, Prince Slayer!"

The Warlock continued, "Because all gods are made by mortals!"

The Deathsingers swung their hands in the air and hissed, "Quiet, heretic! You shall soon see the true power of Oryx!"

Max and Shin found themselves silenced, picked up by the Knights, carried away from the Moon, and their minds drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Silver and Jess stood outside of a Clovis Bray facility on the border of the icecap, their eyes scanning the cap for any man-made architecture below the surface. "I don't see anything," Silver started, "but maybe that's because the ice is too thick and opaque."

"Agreed," Jess replied, "Something about this place implies that there's more than meets the eye."

They walked into the facility, greeted by a friendly concierge AI with a British accent, "Welcome back to Clovis Bray Incorporated, Dr. Chase. Shall I start up a tour for your friend?"

Silver and Jess looked at each other in confusion, "Who?"

"Dr. Chase," the AI continued, "Am I to assume that you've forgotten yourself?"

Silver looked at the ceiling and said, "Maybe she has."

"In that case, I will give you both the tour, that way your memories will be jogged and your friend will be impressed by your work." The AI opened door after door, leading the two Guardians down a lighted hallway, explaining the values and projects of Clovis Bray, "Our institute was founded years ago by Dr. Clovis Bray, Summa Cum Laude at the Ishtar Academy's STEM college. His Thesis, _The Artificial Intelligence and its Immortality,_ is the cornerstone of his corporation; from it, we spawned the Exo Program," the hallway's wall lit up, revealing statues of Exos posing like Greek philosophers and Roman senators, "With the Exo Program, we were able to create a vessel for immortality, a universe of potential, and the security of Humanity's future."

Jess whispered, "Where do Rasputin and SIVA fit into this?"

"Rasputin?" the concierge asked, "Never heard of him."

"He's a Warmind!" Jess bit back, "Don't you remember creating him!?"

The AI's voice lit up, "Oh! A Warmind! Yes, Clovis Bray made a Warmind once. Awesome intelligence, ingenious creativity! But he..." the AI stumbled for words, "...went mad. This way please." A different set of doors opened, leading to another giant octahedron, but this one was dead. "This was Odin, the first Warmind, and if you asked Clovis Bray, one of the greatest. Odin was designed for supervising the Exo Program and the Exodus Project; having complete knowledge of humanity's culture, history, military strategy, their current situation, and their long-term goals, Odin gave humanity a chance for survival: SIVA."

Jess and Silver stared at each other in shock and disbelief. The concierge AI continued, "Odin presented SIVA to humanity's leaders, but their consensus was divided to say the least; the militaries were in favor, but the presidents and prime ministers wanted to see SIVA's diplomatic side. Odin didn't calculate their response, and as a result, he went insane. The leaders ran for their lives, one Russian general took SIVA with him, and Clovis Bray sealed off Odin, waiting for him to explode."

"Oh my Traveler!"

"But Odin didn't explode, instead he was split into two different personalities, Rasputin and Charlemagne. Charlemagne spoke first, frantically calling out for SIVA to murder everyone, but Rasputin held him off long enough for everyone to evacuate. As a reward, Rasputin was taken with the humans to live in peace on Earth."

Silver and Jess's faces lit up, "That explains his scrambled memory!"

"As for the Exo Program, that had to be moved under human supervision via Dr. Anastasia Bray. She found that her father did not invent the Exo, but one of her ancestors did."

The Guardians gave each other a look that said, "Her ancestor? What ancestor!?"

The AI led them through another hallway, explaining the Exos' history, "Ana Bray found through her research, and a bit of spelunking on Earth, seven different Exo robots known as the Seven Seraphs. She took them back to her office at the main facility, cleaned them, and booted them up. These Seraphs had very different personalities and names, and from them, she learned a lot about Pre-Golden Age lifestyles from them." At the end of the hallway, there was a room with seven unlit statues, each one was illuminated when the concierge called out their names, "Ariana-1, the leader taught her about the horrors of a government called 'Fascism', and how the robots' creator worked to end it. The other six were called Kaden-2, Leviathan-3, Shiro-4, Delphi-5, Cayde-6, and Harko-7."

Jess's eyes widened, Silver's jaw dropped, they both knew one person who sought justice against dictators and had enough engineering skills to create seven bipedal robots: Max Prodigy.


	18. The Darkest Ambitions

Mara and her Awoken stood in the middle of their homeworld's throne room, now filled with Taken splotches. _Oryx will be pleased indeed,_ the Awoken Queen thought to herself.

"Oh, he won't be," said a new female voice, "Oryx is never pleased with his servants' work." The voice revealed herself in what little light remained, her figure was very similar to a Hive Wizard, except for her larger size, well-adorned robes, a hidden belt of venomous knives, and a small crown of Hadium horns pointed up, two on the back were larger than the other 7. The figure grinned, "But I think you did a spectacular job with my new fortress, Mara, Daughter of Irene."

Mara drew a dark sword at the figure's neck in extreme rage, "Who are you!? How do you know my name!?"

The figure pushed the blade aside, "I am Savathun, The Witch-Queen of Shadows," she raised her clawed hand at Mara and her Awoken and said, "And I claim you and your Dreaming City as my own!" A blast of Darkness spawned from her claw and washed over Mara and the Dreaming City.

* * *

Max and Shin woke up in a dark room, unaware of what they were about to face with shackled ankles and wrists, wriggling against the restraints, backs pressed against crystal torture benches. "Comfortable?" The Warpriest asked in front of them, "I sure hope so, because He has demanded your worst deaths."

Max rolled his eyes, "Of course He did! Why wouldn't He pass up this opportunity to kill His violent son's murderers!?"

"He has sentenced you to be tortured and executed by His Darkblade," the Warpriest continued, "And trust me, Alak-Hul loves torturing his enemies." The Warpriest was raised out of the room by the Deathsingers floating on the platform above him, and then another door opened.

Alak-Hul was a giant Hive Knight wielding a battle axe and a slow walk. He walked out of his chained and barred door slowly, sniffing the air and growled rather lowly, "Fresh meat...so weak...so confined." He dragged the axe on the floor, scratching it with a noise louder than nails on a chalkboard. "Come to me, little mutton chops! I will eat your bodies, and Oryx will take your souls!" He swung his axe at Max, but the Warlock deflected the blow with a jolt of electricity. "Still fighting I see... Let's snuff it out!"

The Darkblade pressed his recessive hand on the side of Max's bench, simulating a sheet of ice. The Warlock shivered, "y-y-y-you e-e-ex-x-xpect us to t-t-t-talk? g-g-give you a r-r-r-reason behind c-c-cr-r-rota's-s-s d-d-d-death?"

Alak-Hul chuckled, "No, Max Prodigy! We already know your reason, and we know how you killed Oryx's only son!" He looked the Warlock dead in the eyes and said, "We just want to execute you, and we're going to have fun doing it!" He swapped the bench's temperature to match a volcano, causing the Warlock to burn his back. Max flinched his spine, trying to keep it away from the crystal. The Darkblade pressed his other hand on Max's stomach and slammed him back into the crystal, burning his back.

The Warlock screamed in agony as he felt his skin begin to bubble. "MERCY!" he cried, "MERCY!"

Alak-Hul laughed, "Where was your mercy for our lord and savior? Huh!? You shall get a fate worse than death!"

Shin roared in anger, her wrists and ankles burst into flames, melting her shackles and setting herself free. The flames engulfed her, she summoned her Golden Gun and fired 8 rapid rounds of fiery bullets into Alak-Hul's head. Max felt the bench return to normal. She released him from his shackles, and he fell into her arms, "Thank you, Shin."

She squeezed him tightly and said, "I just can't stand losing you."

A loud shrill pierced the air, the Image of Oryx sliced through the darkness of the cell, and His voice bellowed, boring through their solid mentality. "HOW DARE YOU MURDER MY DARKBLADE! HOW DARE YOU SLAY MY BROOD AND GET AWAY UNSCATHED! YOU WILL DIE RIGHT WHERE YOU STAND!!!"

Two enormous Taken spawned into the cell: Primus Ta'aun on the right, and Skolas, the Kell of Taken on the left. Max asked Shin, "Got any more golden bullets!?"

Shin gulped, "No! I wasted them on the Darkblade!"

Max gulped, "Welp! If we go down, I sure am glad to be by your side."

Shin nodded, "Likewise."

Max sent out a jolt of electricity at Ta'aun, doing minimal damage to the giant Colossus. Ta'aun retaliated with a bunch of bullets sprayed from its heavy machine gun, Skolas fired 3 rounds from its Shadow Cannon at Max, and Shin retaliated with 8 bullets aimed directly at Skolas's head. Skolas tried firing its cannon again, but Shin was quick enough to throw her knife into the cannon's barrel, causing the Shadow Cannon to explode in Skolas's face, spraying knife shards into its brain, the walls, Max's hip, and Ta'aun's back and legs.

Skolas howled in the pain of dying and dissolved into the ground. Ta'aun roared in rage, knocked Shin aside with the butt of his gun, and charged at Max. The Warlock tripped, Ta'aun was ready to slam his gun down on Max's head, but he shot two more electric bolts at the Taken Primus, this time at its gun and its head. Ta'aun exploded in an instant, its remains splattered the cell and the Guardians. Max and Shin heaved as they got to their feet. Oryx screamed, "MUST I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF!?"

Max and Shin were grabbed by two large arms that were coated with the Darkness, and they were dragged into a Dark Dimension. Their arms and legs were bound by invisible chains, their bodies restrained against invisible walls, but their heads were allowed to move; Oryx wanted them to see how hopeless their future looked. Shin wrestled against the invisible restraints, "Where are we!? WHERE ARE WE!?"

A silhouette appeared, an outline against the Darkness, an outline that resembled the Supreme Hive God Himself. "You are Max and Shin," Oryx began calmly, "Unconquerable murderers of My brood, My heir, and My prayers. Strong and inseparable, and you have been Taken."

"Yeah!" Max gritted, "By You! And against our will!"

Oryx walked over to Max, "Hush, child. There is no need to fear, for I have come to set you free. I have come to set you all free."

"Free from what!?"

"Arguing, bickering, friction, politics. You have fought well against your rival, destroying him without a second thought. I admire your strength, but you still cling on the material world and its flaws, you still cling to broken ideologies even when perfection is right in front of you. All you need to do is release your mind."

"He will not!" Shin shouted, "Max will not lose his mentality to a monster like you!"

Oryx turned to Shin, "Monster?" He paced towards her, "Am I a monster because all I did was raise a son? Am I a monster because I bring you gifts?" He tilted her head up ever so slightly, playing with her, "No, you think I'm a monster because your Traveler told you so. I have seen the oldest laws of the Universe: You either go with the flow, whittle down every weak star, planet, and organism until only the strongest one survives, or you die trying to fight it. My Hive, My Taken, are the answer to these laws. **I** am the answer to these laws! Through me all will be saved, and all you need to do is to take your blade." A shadow knife appeared in front of Shin, the inscription on the blade's surface read 'Revenge'. Oryx begged to her, "Take it! Become even more powerful!"

"No!" Max shouted, "Don't do it! He's tempting you!"

Another shadow knife appeared at Max's throat, its inscription read 'Resolve'. Oryx walked back over to Max, "You are strong, and still you reject me as your God? Why?"

The Warlock tried to talk, the knife made it difficult to breathe, "Because all gods are made by mortals!"

Oryx hissed, "You have no idea what it's like to be a God! I am scales of balance, the sword and the shield, life and death! In My hands, I hold the Universe's success! You are nothing! And to Nothing, your mind shall return!"

The knife began to slice through Max's neck, the Warlock screamed as he felt his insides bubbling.

* * *

Kaden picked up Jess and Silver from Mars, bored from being their taxi while they, Shin, and Max are off on their adventures. He signed, "Did you find anything about SIVA?"

"Yes," Jess replied, "A lot! Apparently it designed by an A.I. named Odin for all of humanity's needs and desires, mostly military ones."

"But the diplomats and military generals had mixed views," Silver continued, "And then they were scared away by Odin's evil half: Charlemagne. Rasputin, the good half, imprisoned Charlemagne, and was given refuge on Earth."

Kaden asked, "But how did SIVA leave Mars?"

Jess shrugged, "I don't know, but we found something else: The Exo Program."

Silver explained, "Apparently it didn't start at Clovis Bray, or with the arrival of the Traveler either. It started with Max and his Seven Seraphs. Shiro is one, so are Cayde, Harko, Ariana, Leviathan, and you!"

Kaden's jaw dropped, then he signed, "I'm a Seraph!? I'm one of the original!?"

"Yes."

"And Max designed me!?"

"Yes."

Kaden leaned back in his chair, his jaw returned to its original position, his mind swam in a couple of theories. At the moment, his most prevalent was, "How's the Martian surface?"

"It was quiet," Silver replied, "Not a single Cabal or Vex in sight. And the Vault was sealed before we entered."

"Weird." Then he shot back up, "No! Not weird!"

"What do you mean-?" Jess shouted.

"They're retreating! I intercepted a couple of messages from the Cabal, and they all say something about a new leader. One that is more militant than their Emperor."

"Oh dear..."

"And there's more: the Vex are retreating to two of their machiniformed planets, Nessus and Mercury; the Fallen are united under one banner now, ripping out all cybernetics from their bodies; and the Hive are preparing a massive ritual for Traveler-knows-what!"

Jess gasped, "Shin and Max! They're in trouble! Punch it for Saturn!"

"No!" Kaden signed, "We can't!"

"What do you mean by, 'We can't!'?"

"Because we'd be going up against the largest threat in the solar system without back-up! You saw what happened to us in SIVA's Perfection Complex, and now you want us to face off against a God just to rescue two Guardians!?"

Jess marched over to Kaden's face and sternly said, "I don't know what sort of logic Max loaded you with, but I do know three things: Max is your creator, Shin is my sister, and they are our only chance at stopping Oryx and saving humanity."

Silver broke the two bickering Guardians up, "Guys, we're going to rescue them, we just need experienced Guardians on our side."

Jess huffed, "And who would that be?"


	19. Cathedral of Darkness

Eris and Ikora stared at Kaden-2, Silver, and Jess in disbelief. The Warlock Vanguard asked, "You want us to do what?"

"Save Max Prodigy," Silver answered, "He's in trouble, trapped by Oryx."

Eris stared at her rock, "I'm sorry, but I can't."

Jess looked puzzled, "Why not?"

"Because the Hive took more than my Light, they took my eyes, my ears, and my heart," she stares directly at Silver to say, "Crota used them and my friends for his own nefarious magic. In a way, my soul is tithed to the Supreme Hive God, Oryx. If I land on His Dreadnought, I become His slave, and you would be killed."

Silver understood the message, but she disagreed, "Eris, you haven't betrayed us yet. You're stronger than most Guardians that I know, with or without the Light, and you have a vendetta against the Hive. So why not use it to kill their Supreme God?"

Eris pondered about this for a while. Ikora said, "I'll go too."

Cayde popped his head out of a pillar, "Go where? To the Dreadnought?"

Eris gritted, "No, you fool! We're not going anywhere!"

The Hunter Vanguard inched closer to the table, "A daring op to rescue two Guardians? A chance to get back at the Hive for stealing your Light? Something that Zavala would never dream of?" He turned to Silver and said, "Sign me up!"

Eris sighed, "I really can't do this!"

"Eris," Jess reasoned, "Max and Shin are in danger. They saved you from the Moon, they listened to you about Oryx, the Hive, and their twisted Sword-Logic. They are counting on you."

Eris Morn huffed, "Then it sounds like you have a deal."

Ikora nodded, "Let's go save Max and Shin from Oryx."

The six Guardians flew to the Dreadnought in Fireteam Omega's Jumpship, racing toward Saturn against the clock, so fast that they almost crashed into the side of Dreadnought. Silver pulled back on the flight sticks and flew the ship through the Hull Breach in one piece. The ship landed and everyone got out. To Cayde's surprise, the Hull Breach was empty; not a single Cabal, Hive, or Taken were in sight. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

Jess answered, "I don't know."

Eris fell to her knees and groaned, "He knows we're here!"

Ikora quickly replied, "Then we don't have any time to waste, let's go!" and then turned to privately speak to Eris, "Can you hold Him off?"

"I'm trying, but my mental shield can only take so much."

"Will memories help? Good memories of your old teammates?"

Eris pondered, "Maybe...I'll try."

The Fireteam entered the Court of Oryx, the central broken arch that was once dormant began to slightly glow, small wisps of poisonous black and blue emanated from its pores. The fractured ring around the arch's circular platform held 12 dark green orbs, each in different places within a 180-degree arc, the top 2 were placed at the top of the arc, close to the broken arch. Silver approached one of the orbs and asked, "What would the Hive want with these?"

Eris examined the orb with her rock and said, "These are soul crystals, smaller ones, lesser ones."

"Lesser soul gems?" Jess was confused, "You mean that any Hive could have their essence tithed to a pretty rock?"

"Not just any Hive," Eris corrected, "Only the weakest are caged inside crystals to be sacrificed."

"Sacrificed? For what?"

"That," Eris regretfully answered, "I do not know, yet."

Silver sighed, "Well, now what do we do?"

Eris read aloud from Toland's journals, "The Hive Soul Crystals are a potent source of energy, regardless of whose soul in them. To the Hive, only the strongest souls are worthy of ascension, at the cost of crystalline weaker souls."

An idea popped into Silver's brain, "What if we used these crystals to open up the portal?"

Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, "What!?"

"Well, Toland said they are a potent source of energy. My guess is that the central portal leads to Oryx, and these soul gems will jumpstart it!"

Eris nodded, "It could work."

Silver motioned, "Then it's settled; let's grab the gems, and place them into the portal."

Kaden grabbed the crystal with his hands and was instantly weighed down by some ethereal force. A loud scream filled the Court of Oryx, followed by His image glowing in the center. "HOW DARE YOU DISTURB MY HIVE'S SACRIFICES!?" He bellowed, "TAKEN! SHOW THESE HERETICS THEIR CONSEQUENCES!" 5 Taken Phalanxes appeared in between Fireteam Omega and the bridge leading to the portal, which was guarded by 2 Taken Centurions and 10 Taken Acolytes.

Silver shot down the Phalanxes with her Outbreak Prime, but more kept appearing in their places. The Hunter shouted, "They just keep coming! Kaden, hurry up!"

The deaf Exo tried to sign, "Why don't YOU try to carry an oppressively heavy rock!?" But his hands could only do so much while carrying said shiny rock. Silver holstered the pulse rifle and grabbed the other end of the rock, but found that she too was burdened with a heavy weight, and even though they carried the crystal together, they were moving just as slowly as Kaden was before. She exclaimed, "It's too heavy! Even when working as a team!"

The Warlock Vanguard turned around fast and saw their slowed movements. "Oh my Traveler, what kind of Hive magic burdens teamwork!?"

"Soul crystals," Eris answered, "If carried by someone other than a Hive, it will burden the carrier or carriers with a force equivalent to their own."

Cayde slapped his helmet, "Why didn't Toland warn us sooner?"

"Because he never handled a soul crystal."

"And you know this how!?"

"Because I had to steal a lot of them to escape the Hellmouth!"

"Then you take the crystal!" Silver shouted. To her surprise and everyone else's, Eris did take the crystal, unburdened by its ethereal reactionary forces. Silver and Kaden froze, Jess dropped her jaw, and Cayde remarked, "Now, how is that possible!?"

"I have a hunch," Silver pondered, "But I hope that I'm wrong, for our safety."

More Taken appeared, this time there were more Phalanxes and Centurions than Acolytes. Silver fired 8 headshots into the only Acolytes that appeared, reserving her knives for the Centurions' eyes. Eris and Ikora grabbed their next two crystals, walked up the path to the portal, and slotted them in. Slowly, the portal began to emanate a different aura: one of passage. The Centurions turned their gaze away from the Guardians and ran straight to the portal arch, their gaze fixed on the slotted crystals.

Silver shouted, "Stop them!"

Kaden drew his hand cannon and shot them down, but it was too late; one of the crystals was destroyed, lighting its half of the arch up in dull green fire.

Then Eris began to chant, " _Eilgi viia dagaz ziy! Hiaga morbo kize mie!_ " The eight other soul crystals began to float, drifting towards the center with a newfound purpose, then slotted themselves into the remaining pores. " _Paz hur pyre gila masugos!_ " The arch erupted in vibrant green flames, lighting up the Court and blinding everyone. The flames drew themselves into the center of the portal, and the center tore a hole into the local fabric of space, enlarging itself to the size of the arch and displaying a different room, a hallway. Fireteam Omega ran through the portal without looking back, and it closed behind them.

Silver heaved, "That was a little too close for comfort!"

Jess eyed Eris, "I think you have some explaining to do!"

"Why me?"

"Because you can levitate soul crystals without any connection to the Light, and you seem to know more about the Hive than you let us believe!"

Eris gritted, "It is not your place to know how I gained such knowledge or powers!"

"Try me!" Jess dared.

Eris stared her straight into her eyes and said, "The knowledge I own will crush your soul!" Then she backed away, "All of your souls! So don't ask me again!" And she marched away without another word.

Jess glared at Eris, then at Silver, "Why exactly did we bring her here!?"

"Because," Silver explained, "We were short one Guardian, and we need someone who knows the ins and outs of the Hive and their magic."

"And your stupid plan is working wonders, but if Eris betrays us, I won't hesitate to kill her."

"Ok!" Cayde exclaimed, "Y'all are too dark and brooding. Let's try to kill something else! Like say, a Hive God?"

* * *

Cass sat in her cell, impatiently waiting for a signal. She twirled her hammer in her hand, then looked out her window. "Where are they?" she whispered.

"Where are who?" asked a prison guard.

Cass turned to face the guard with malice, "None of your business!"

"Oh I think it is," he sneered, "You see, I'm here to make sure you and the other prisoners don't escape!"

"I'd be surprised if that wasn't your job," she laughed, then her voice turned serious, "but you know what they say:" Cass drew herself closer to the cell door, inches away from the guard's face, "curiosity killed the cat!" The Titan firmly grabbed his neck and began to burn it. The guard screamed, but the flames around his head grew larger and wilder. Then, Cass snapped his neck, dropping the guard to the ground, and destroyed her cell door.

The other prisoners began calling out, "FREE US! FREE US!"

Cass obliged with a grin, "I will, when you join our revolution!"

The prison security blared through all the levels, prisoners shouted wildly through the bars, guards were put on high alert, and started arming themselves with assault rifles and ballistic armor. All floors of the prison went on lockdown, but that didn't stop Cass from breaking out of solitary confinement. She marched up the stairs to the ground level with her army of prisoners. The guards on the other side of the stair door pointed their firearms at the door, waiting for it to open. "DON'T HESITATE!" shouted the head guard, his voice like a drill sergeant, "SHOOT TO OVERKILL!"

Cass blasted the door open with a fiery blast from her hammer. The guards opened fire, Cass gritted her teeth as she held off bullets with her own shield made of nanites. She struck them all with a large arc of fire, instantly burning them all. The prisoners piled out of the stairwell, grabbed the assault weapons, and ran to the upper levels, murdering guards and releasing the deadliest prisoners and gifting them with assault weapons. When all the guards were killed and all the prisoners freed, she addressed her new army, "The City has trapped us for too long, imprisoned us for being skewed outside their confines. But now, let's blow this City a new one! Today, our revolution begins!"


	20. Chapter 20

Fireteam Omega moved forward through the hallway as it turned dark, and their Ghosts turned on their flashlights, revealing a plus-shaped junction of hallways. Eris stood in the center, her glowing rock elevated in her right hand, illuminating the hallways. She walked to her right, turned left at the next junction, turned left again, and then turned right at the last junction. Silver and the others followed warily. The last hallway wasn't dark, but illuminated by a bunch of hanging blue crystals, and ending with a locked door. Cayde approached the door and asked, "Now what? How do we open it?"

Just he asked, the door hinges whined as it opened, revealing a lightly illuminated room. This room had a U-shaped platform attached to the entrance and left and right walls, and below it was a shallow pond. On the ceiling above the pond is a set of 7 large bubbles, and towards the back of the room was a runed pillar that stood as tall as the low-ceiling room.

Silver observed the room, looking for an exit from the scary and claustrophobic scene. "There has to be a way out of this; everyone, find a door!"

While Jess, Cayde, Silver, Ikora, and Kaden searched, Eris was fixated on the pillar in the back. The Warlock Vanguard saw this and asked, "Eris, what's piqued your interest?"

Eris turned to meet Ikora's eyes, "These runes hold valuable information."

"Yeah, but we can't read them!" Cayde replied.

Eris snapped, "You have no idea what you're looking for! You think the Hive rely on petty doors to move around?"

"Yes!" he snapped back, "Because we walked through at least 20 of them, portals included!"

"Then you do not know how the Hive navigate reality!" Eris barked, "None of you do!"

"Then teach us!" Silver's voice softly echoed throughout the dim chamber, "If it means getting you to help us!"

Eris motioned for her to come closer to the runed pillar, "Come Hunter, come and learn."

She looked at the runes indented into the pillar as he approached, but failed to understand, "Ok, what am I supposed to be learning?"

Eris grabbed Silver's wrist and pulled it toward the pillar, forcing her hand against the indented runes. Instantly, she heard a voice say, _"Aurash! Don't go in!"_

* * *

_Aurash peaked into her father's bedroom and crept in. The druids and the doctors confirmed that the Osmium King was dead and rushed out, leaving Aurash to stare at her deceased father in shock. Her sisters, Xi Ro and Sathona, followed after her as they approached Taox, second-in-command to the throne, neutered mother, designated to watch the throne, and the heirs' tutor. She asked in an extra-terrestrial language, "Children, do you know how your father died?"_

_"Old age," they answered._

_"Yes," said the tutor, then muttered, "Heh, old age."_

_Sathona, the middle triplet sister, suspected otherwise, but Xi Ro was easily convinced. Aurash asked, "Is there something you'd like to tell us, Taox?"_

_She straightened her voice and said, "Wait outside, I'll come get you when the time is right."_

_"Ok," they replied and walked out of the room, except for Aurash. Aurash had discovered a small glass dish on her father's desk and opened it up. Inside was a pale white worm carcass, as dead as a doornail, yet it could still speak._

_Taox noticed this and hissed, "Do you know WHY the Osmium King perished?" She drew a knife and inched closer to the eldest triplet heir_ _, ready to strike._

_Aurash touched the worm and asked,_ _"Why do you have a knife drawn against me?" without turning her head, "Why did you slay my father?"_

_Taox sneered,_ _"Because he was weak! You all are weak! You and your sisters have no place on the Osmium Throne!" Taox brought down the knife, but Aurash was faster than her mentor, and she ran out of the room with the worm. "THAT'S RIGHT! RUN! RUN FAR AWAY FROM THIS COURT, AURASH! WE, THE HELIUM DRINKERS, WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU! ALL OF THE OSMIUM COURT WILL BE EXAMPLES IF THE REST OF FUNDAMENT AND ITS KRILL DO NOT COOPERATE!"_

_Aurash ran back to her sisters, "Xi Ro, Sathona, I've got news for you."_

_"Pray tell," said Xi Ro_

_"Yes, yes, please do," replied Sathona._

_Aurash stumbled for the words, "O-o-our fath-th-th-ther was k-k-killed!"_

_"Who did this?" asked Xi Ro, "I will hunt them down, and by my left eye, I will torture and slaughter them, their family, their friends, and everyone else in their clan!"_

_"By my right eye," said Sathona, "I will confuse them first, torture them second, and mutilate them last!"_

_"Oh sisters mine," answered Aurash, "It was Taox, our mentor and trusted ally. By my middle eye, I will devote myself to understanding the force that drove her to this point, and why our father spoke of a syzygy and the God-Wave."_

* * *

Silver stumbled back, "What was that!?"

Eris somberly answered, "The genesis of our biggest threat."

Then, a soft grumble echoed throughout the chamber, followed by a growl. A giant Ogre had emerged from the pool, its giant hands lifted its hulking torso and split head out of the shallow pool, its small legs materialized underneath its torso, and its back opened up to reveal 6 spider limbs covering a squishy, bubbly mass. The Ogre's eye shot a precise purple laser out of the slit in its head, straight at the Guardians.

Ikora yelled, "DUCK!"

The abominable noises of Hive thrashing and screaming all around them. The Ogre had a vertical slit on the top of its skull, six large insect-like tentacles on its back, and one obese stomach sitting on its tiny legs. The Ogre growled and shot its Eye Beam as Hive Thrall crawled out of every crevasse in the pit and charged up the back stairs on either side.

Silver asked, "What is that thing!?"

"Golgoroth!" Eris answered, "It guards the Tablet of Ruin, and we disturbed it!"

"Oh great!" Cayde said sarcastically before straightening his seriousness, "Any way to kill it!?"

The Ogre fired its beam at them again and growled in failure.

Eris chanted, "Golgoroth's strength draws from its pond, but it is also the Ogre's weakness."

"So we attack it from the pool?"

Silver observed the 7 bubbles above the pool and inferred, "Yeah, but we need to shoot the bubbles so that we can kill it! Otherwise, we're not making a dent!"

Ikora thought about the plan, "Ok, but someone needs to distract it!"

Kaden signed without hesitation, "I'll distract it."

"What!?" Jess cried out, "You can't!"

"Listen," he signed to her, "You all can bicker about who can or can't, but I'm the only one without any close friends."

"Now see here!" Silver snapped.

Kaden jumped out of his cover and shot down the closest bubble on the left side, "Go now! You're wasting time!" He shot Golgoroth's bubbly back, the Ogre shrieked and spat purple venom at the Exo Hunter. The other 5 dove down to pool, straight into the enlightened puddle and began firing into the Ogre's stomach. While Fireteam Omega used bullets to pierce the Ogre's stomach, Eris used her rock to send fiery green blasts into the Ogre.

Jess accidentally scraped its back with a misaligned bullet, the Ogre shrieked again, spat venom in Jess's direction, and sent Ikora, Cayde, Silver, and Eris scrambling in different directions. Jess shouted, "What happened!? Why is it attacking me instead of Kaden!?"

"Because you attacked it!" Eris shouted.

Jess reminded her, "We all did!"

Cayde fired into Golgoroth's back, drawing its gaze away from Jess. "It's fine!" he said, "You accidentally hit it in the back instead of the stomach."

"How is that supposed to help me!?"

The Hunter Vanguard avoided the venom as he spoke, "Because it's not entirely your fault!

Silver jumped up, shot the Ogre in the back, and said, "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?" Golgoroth spat more of its purple venom, Ikora shot the back next, followed by Eris. Golgoroth screamed in pain again, then just as the Ogre stopped screaming and started firing its eye beam again, another scream was heard; The Image of Oryx blazed to life in the chamber, "WHY MUST YOU TORTURE MY POOR PET!? HE'S ONLY GUARDING MY TABLET OF RUIN!!! SERVANTS! DESTROY THESE HERETICS!!!!"

Taken Thrall warped into the room by the dozens as the Image faded. Ikora launched a Nova Bomb at the Thrall Horde, Kaden shot down another bubble and Golgoroth's back again, opening the Ogre's stomach. Silver fired her Void Arrow into the Ogre's stomach, piercing it and tethering Golgoroth into the Tablet of Ruin. Golgoroth screamed one more time as the Void from the arrow formed cracks across its body. Cayde summoned his Golden Gun and fired 3 shots into the Ogre, exploding it into pieces that spread across the room and knocked over the runed pillar. The pillar shattered, and as it did, Eris and Silver experienced another vision...

* * *

_Two years after Taox's betrayal, the triplet heirs were far far away from the Osmium Court, now overrun by the Helium Drinkers. They found a giant ship in the shape of a needle on a shoreline and had begun to repair it. Sathona was drawn more to the worm than her sisters; it began to resonate with her, guide her, lead her. Sathona dreamt of being a mother not to give birth, but to live longer than the average Krill. Xi Ro always wanted to be a knight, fighting in wars, conquering nations, etc. She wanted to sell the ship for a good deal of money, then bribe another court to take on the Helium Drinkers. When Aurash saw their father make a syzygy with his hands and his warnings of a God-Wave, she sought to understand the ways of the universe and why it works the way that it does, and this ship was the key. Against Xi Ro's wishes, Sathona and Aurash repaired the ship, and the three of them took it for a joyride, with Aurash at the wheel._

_Another two years go by and they were nowhere near their presumed victory. "We should've sold this ship while we had the chance!" said Xi Ro, "There's no doubt that the Helium Drinkers would've annihilated and assimilated everyone else by now!"_

_"Patience," said Sathona, "The Drinkers always expect brutal tactics, killing them won't be easy."_

_"Sisters," said Aurash, "This ship was meant to dive into the core, I suggest that we do just that." And so they dove into the planet for six months before reaching a giant Leviathan._

_It met them in front of the ship and declared, "Krill-people of thy Court of Osmium, the path that thou seek is fret with danger. Turn back and thou lives doth spared."_

_Xi Ro asked her sisters, "Do any of you know what he's saying?"_

_"Not a clue," they answered sarcastically._

_"Dost thou know what thou art doing? Turn back from thy Deep and doth look to the Sky."_

_Aurash interrogated the Leviathan with, "What about the syzygy and the God-Wave?"_

_"Verily, I tell thee: Abandon thou quest and ye shall live; Remain on point and ye shall die."_

_"Sisters," said Sathona, "The worm speaks true and clearly to me, do you want to listen to a creature speaking in false parables? Or do you want the truth?"_

_"The truth!" they announced, "We need the truth!"_

_"Then we shall dive further, oh sisters mine!" Sathona took the wheel away from Aurash, weaved around the Leviathan, avoiding its mouth and charging claws, and finally dove into a small opening that led to the planet's core._

_Instead of a solid core that was composed of a superheated iron-nickel alloy, there was an inner world, one infested with large worms, lava, and gold. In the center of this world sat a 20-foot jet black, red-eyed figure wearing sleek and spiked wrought iron armor on a wretched golden throne with nine jet black worms clad in ominous iron armor surrounding him. The triplets stepped onto the top of this ship to greet the figure. Sathona announced, "We've come for answers, your highness!" and bowed before the dark figure, her sisters followed her lead._

_The figure stepped toward to their ship and spoke in their language, "Greetings, Xi Ro, Knight Supreme; Sathona, Mother of Trickery; and Aurash, Scholar of Death. We have awaited your arrival."_

_"Thank you, your highness," said Sathona._

_Xi Ro stepped out of her bow and stood, "How do we take back the Osmium Court?"_

_"Why?" the figure bellowed_ _, "For revenge? Anyone can obtain that!"_

_"Can we survive against the Helium Drinkers? Against our deaths?" asked Sathona as she stood._

_"You're both useless and shallow," the figure turned and walked back to his throne, "Is this why you sought my counsel? To seek life!?"_

_Still bowing, Aurash shouted, "How do we survive against the syzygy and its God-Wave?" Her voice echoed throughout the world. All of the worms turned to look at the only Krill bowing before their master._

_The figure turned and grinned at Aurash. Walking back to the ship, he pointed at her and said, "Good! That's a very good question! And for you, I have the answers." He turned to one of the nine elites, "AKKA! BRING THE WORM LARVA!" Akka descended to the grotto below the throne and brought up a bucket of infant worms in its mouth. "Now," he addressed the triplets, "these worms provide you with the powers you seek to save your people and yourselves. And since you three are the first to seek my counsel, I will let you become not just leaders of your race, but the only Gods of Fundament! Now, pick your powers."_

_Xi Ro butted in, "I want to lead armies, conquer worlds, and slaughter our enemies until the only race that remains are the Krill!"_

_"Strength for strength's sake is a good thing to have. For your belief in it, you get the Knight Worm: the might of your master!"_

_Sathona cut Aurash off, "I want to deceive our foes, make members of their race turn against one another, commit wars against each other so that I will kill or enslave the last one!"_

_The figure handed her a larva and said,_ _"You are very clever and adaptable, the Wizard Worm, the mother of trickery, shall be your reward!"_

_Finally, Aurash had her turn. "I want to not just understand death or fear, but to become it and everything I love AND hate! I want to rule the Universe! All of them!"_

_The figure grinned at Aurash, "You hold dominion over your mind, and seek dominion over the Universe! I shall reward you with the King Worm, my own concoction!" He handed each worm to their respective sister and said, "Lie down and put them close to your stomachs."_

_With the worms in hand, the triplets did as they were told and felt the pain of their worm burrowing under their skin. Xi Ro felt some pain as she grew tenfold, jacked-up her muscles, and renamed herself Xivu Arath, Sword of the Kingdom. Sathona felt more pain as she grew to the same size as her sister, her fingers becoming jagged and full of wisps, ready to conjure any spell, taking the name Savathun, The Witch-Queen of the Shadows. But Aurash was different..._

_She felt the most pain as her wyrm devoured her stomach, liver, uterus, lungs, and heart. She felt the most pain when its tail grew in between her thighs on her front, transforming her into a male 20 times larger than the original form, growing wings on his back. That was the day that Aurash became Auryx, King of the Hive!_

* * *

Silver woke up spooked, still in the same room as before. The Hunter asked, "What happened? What did we just see?"

Eris was just as haunted, "The Dark Lord! He is real!"

* * *

Shaxx scrambled his Redjacks, "Down to the prison! Hold off the fugitives before they make it to the Tower!" The Crucible Handler had received word about a prison break, the first in City history, 30 minutes ago. All of the prisoners were freed and bloodthirsty, all of the guards were killed, and one rogue Guardian was at the center of it all: Cassandra Velnag.

Zavala had advised his old partner that going after Cass was a bad idea, especially if she had an army. Shaxx, however trying the time may be, was not going to leave a challenge lying around to scooped up by someone else. Two hours later, 2 Redjacks, Arcite-14 and Reddrix-11, reported back to Shaxx with somber news: the slums and the midtown precincts have fallen to the insurgents. Out of 21 Redjacks deployed, only those two were reported back alive. The Crucible Handler sat defeated in his station, helpless against Cass's violent insurrection.

It was in this moment that Lord Shaxx made a tough decision: "Attention all Crucible combatants!" he announced over every Crucible match, the only activity where Guardians test their might against each other, "You are all required to return to the City! We must stop an insurrection!"

As soon as Shaxx turned off the comms, a giant storm began to loom outside the City, just over the mountain range.


	21. Priestbanes

Max had a dark knife cutting against his neck, causing his skin to bubble against the blade. He screamed against the pain, electrical sparks discharged from the cut, growing in size with his voice. The sparks zapped the knives into dust and freed Max and Shin from the dark chains. Electricity began to arc onto the walls, fracturing the Darkness and angering Oryx. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DIMENSION!?" 2 parts of the dimension walls flaked off from the rest and disappeared, one red and one blue.

Max turned to face Oryx, his eyes were glowing electric blue, "I'm ripping it apart!"

* * *

Fireteam Omega had gone through another portal, this time leading to a brighter room, one lit by orange candles. This room resembled a horizontal Basilica divided into three separate areas, the center area being the entrance. The left area was dimly lit as blue, whereas the right was red, but both sides had a triangular Annihilator Totem, and both areas were filled with poisonous aromas. In the center, kneeling before a large door, were a small congregation of Acolytes, bowing and praying before the door. Silver stopped before they reached the center plate and stared at the place, "Eris, any ideas on how we get out of here?"

Eris raised her rock, her green light combated the orange. For a second, she was silent, then her left hand grabbed her forehead and she groaned, "This place has a warden, and he is strong!"

"How strong?" The Warlock Vanguard asked, "Strong enough to plow through your mind?"

"Yes!" Eris groaned again.

A booming shrill echoed throughout the Basilica, "Ah, we have guests! Come to collect your friends? ACOLYTES, COLLECT THEIR BLOOD!!!!"

The Acolytes rose from their prayer, and the Annihilator Totems awakened. Ikora shouted, "Let's go!" Cayde and Ikora ran over to the left side, Eris and Silver ran to the right, while Kaden and Jess remained in the middle and shot at the Acolytes. Two different lights began to outside of the totem rooms, one red light for the blue room, and one blue light for the red room. Eris advised, "Take those brands!"

Cayde asked, "The what!?"

"The Brands of the Deathsingers! They are the only things that will repel the poison!"

Ikora and Silver followed Eris's advice, then met their partners under the Totems. More Acolytes appeared in the chapel, this time spawning into the side areas. Jess accidentally killed one of the red ones, causing the surrounding zealots to become enraged, firing their guns and magic rapidly. She shouted, "I THINK THAT WE'RE IN TROUBLE!"

The brands swapped and Silver said, "COMING!" She and Ikora swapped with Kaden and Jess respectively, and the Warlock Vanguard lobbed a couple of Void scatter grenades at the enraged Acolytes. The center plate lit up for a good 10 seconds before it went dark again, followed by 2 runes left alight on the sides of the barred door in front of them. The brands swapped hands again, Eris and Cayde met each other in the middle while Ikora and Silver ran back to their sides. "So," Cayde asked, "How long do we have to do this?"

"As long as it takes," Eris fired another green fireball at a dozen Thrall.

2 more runes lit up, the brands swapped again, and everyone was back in their original spots.

The voice shouted, "THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING! WIZARDS AND KNIGHTS, DO YOUR DUTIES!" Two Knights appeared in front of the door, wielding bone swords, followed by two Wizards wearing adorned robes. The Wizards stayed to fight the Guardians in the middle, and the Knights traveled down to the side rooms.

Cayde killed an Acolyte with his Ace of Spades, reloaded, then aimed at the incoming Knight's head and pulled the trigger. The Knight exploded into a ball of flame. "When in doubt, carry an Ace in your sleeve!" he smirked.

Two by two, more runes appeared, and for every pair of runes lit, two more Knights and Wizards came out of the door. After charging 10 pairs of runes, the voice shouted, "MUST I DEFEND THIS BASILICA MYSELF!?" The magical door opened up, revealing another room of the Basilica, The Warpriest's Chamber. Instantly, the Fireteam was lifted off their feet and dragged into the new room.

The Warpriest's Chamber had multiple levels and platforms. The ground claimed a majority of the room, holding a plate in the center and a rough monolith planted in the ground in front of that. To the right was a set of stairs leading to a large platform with a plate in the top left corner and another planted monolith in front of it. On the left side of the Chamber was another platform and another plate, this time being shadowed by a floating monolith. To the top left of this platform was a small, angled bridge, leading to the other half of the room, which was symmetrical and raised to a level between the left platform and the right platform. The sides of this platform had smaller rooms in the back corners, a giant blighted sphere called the Oculus hovered above the middle, and the monoliths had engravings of a Hive Knight with an oversized, angular jaw and a triangular horn as a helmet. This was the Warpriest as depicted by the Hive in three different poses, the left pose faced a battalion with nothing but a Hive Boomer and Bone Cleaver, the middle pose saw him victorious over a mountain of corpses, and the right pose had him pointing at the audience as if to say, "I want you to slay in the name of Oryx." 

The door closed itself behind the Guardians, trapping them inside the Chamber. Then the shrill announced its entry, "I AM ALAK-ZUL, THE WORLD-CRUSHER, THE SON OF XIVU ARATH, THE WARPRIEST OF ORYX, AND NOW, I SHALL BE CALLED 'LIGHT-SNUFFER'!" The Warpriest fell from the Oculus, landing on his two feet and punched the ground, emitting a shockwave of green fire.

Eris fired a projectile at the Warpriest, saw it deflect off of his armor, and shouted, "SCATTER!" Silver and Eris took the middle, Ikora and Cayde went to the right side, while Kaden and Jess handled the left platform. Thrall came out of the nooks and crannies in the middle, Acolytes and Wizards ran to the sides of the Warpriest, Alak-Zul fired his Boomer at the Guardians one at a time. "YOU'RE TOO LATE!" he shouted, "ORYX HAS BEGUN CONVERTING HIS TWO PRISONERS INTO SERVANTS! WHEN HE IS DONE, ALL WORLD WILL BOW BEFORE HIM!"

Jess gasped over the comms, "Shin and Max!"

Eris shouted, "It won't come to that!"

"Why!?"

"I just have a feeling about it."

* * *

Shin woke up and saw Max battling Oryx with his Arc Light. She tried reaching for her Golden Gun, but only produced an ember of flame. She tried again but failed once more. The Hunter sighed, thinking she had failed him, her good friend. _I am scared, Max. I don't know-_

Then, a thought dawned on her. _Are my powers tied to my friends? No, they're tied to my emotions for my friends!_ Shin closed her eyes and concentrated on Max, her feelings for him, summoning every emotion she had for him and amplified them. The ember grew into a pillar of fire, she opened her eyes and threw a fireball at Oryx, burning his skin. "WHAT THE-!?"

Shin grinned, the fire in her hands illuminated her face, "He rips, I burn!" She stretched her hands out to the sides and shot fire into the Dimension's walls. The Darkness flaked away from the walls like ashes, disappearing into the incoming Light.

* * *

Suddenly, one of the monoliths began to glow. Eris shouted, "I'll tell you guys which plates to stand on!"

"What!?"

"Just do as you're told!" she snapped, "Left one is first!" Jess walked onto the left plate and stood still. "RIGHT!" Cayde stood on his plate, and Silver took the middle plate. Instantly, she began to glow red, "Ugh! I'm feeling unstable, Eris!" 

Eris grinned, "The Brand of the Initiate! Everyone, regroup to Silver!"

Acolytes appeared out of nowhere in the middle. Fireteam Omega gathered near the middle plate and started sniping at the Warpriest out of instinct. Alak-Zul staggered back, "AUGH! WHAT IS THIS!?"

Ikora shouted, "OPEN FIRE!" Fireteam Omega pelted the Warpriest with a barrage of bullets. Silver's head began to throb, and she fell to her knees. She accidentally shot her Trespasser at an Acolyte's head. As soon as did, the cyborg Hunter felt a little better. As soon as she killed 5 Acolytes, the Brand disappeared and Alak-Zul said, "OCULUS! WIPE THEIR EXISTENCE AWAY!"

The Oculus expanded, searing its gaze into anything that wasn't the Warpriest. Luckily for the Guardians, the monolith that they hid behind protected them from the gaze. The Warpriest's Oculus dissolved the monolith as it shrunk. Alak-Zul fired Darkness Blasts in retaliation, and they ran back to their positions. The Warpriest growled, "I am the sword of war! All will be cleansed by unquenchable fire and Darkness!"

More Thrall and Acolytes entered the Chamber, The Warpriest threw more Darkness Blasts, and Eris saw a red glowing rift where the destroyed monolith used to be. She called out, "Middle!" Silver stepped on her plate, and the rift turned blue. Eris shouted, "Left!" Ikora stepped on the left plate, and Jess stepped on the right, claiming the Brand.

Silver advised, "Jess, pace yourself with the Acolytes. Everyone else, meet up with Jess!" The Fireteam ran over to the right side and fired everything at the Warpriest, his armor finally caving into pressure from the bullets. Cayde fired his Ace of Spades at one of The Warpriest's adorned medals, shattering it and the shoulder plate it was attached to. The Warpriest's entire left arm now lay bare against the Chamber's air. Cayde fired another bullet at one of The Warpriest's other medals, shattering the right side of his armor.

Alak-Zul howled again, expanded his Oculus, and cried, "YOU DESTROYED MY HONOR! HOW DARE YOU!!" The Oculus retracted, he dissolved the right monolith, and sent 3 magic missiles at the Fireteam, followed by 2 Darkness Blasts.

The Image of Oryx screamed to life, "OH WARPRIEST MINE, WHY HAVEN'T YOU KILLED THE INTRUDERS!?"

"YOU SHOULD'VE ASKED YOUR PET THE SAME QUESTION!" Alak-Zul bickered, "THESE GUARDIANS WON'T GIVE UP!!"

"ENOUGH!" Oryx blared, "LET MY SERVANTS HANDLE THIS!" Instantly, Taken Psions and Wizards began to spawn on all sides. Eris, Ikora, and Jess began casting spells of Void and fire at the Taken, but the Psions split themselves too quickly and the Wizards sent numerous Shadow Thralls as distractions. Silver drew her Void knives and sliced through the Psion horde with ease, Cayde shot down the Wizards on the left side and middle, while Eris called out the plate order, "Right!" Jess stepped on her plate. "Middle!" Silver jumped on hers. "Left!"

Cayde took the Brand from the left plate and went down to the ground, "I thought it would be easier for everyone if I came to them instead of the other way around."

Eris sighed, "Fine. Just don't mess up."

"When have I?" he grinned.

Silver fired a Void arrow at the Warpriest's Boomer, shattering it into smaller pieces. Cayde shot at the chest plate, leggings, and helmet, breaking them down, peeling them away from Alak-Zul's skin. The Warpriest howled in rage, "YOU HAVE COME FAR ENOUGH!" The Oculus grew in size again, the Guardians ducked behind the last monolith, watching it dissolve as the Oculus shrunk one last time.

The Warpriest tossed an Axion Dart at Fireteam Omega, scattering them back to their original places, then condensed his Oculus into a sword, the Bone Cleaver from his 'War Pose Monolith', and used it to fire Darkness Blasts and Axion Darts at everyone. "THERE IS NOWHERE FOR YOU TO HIDE!" The Warpriest jumped down to the ground and charged after Eris and Silver first, slashing his sword whenever he got close. They could feel the heavy void of death whenever that blade approached them, the edge between Life and Death had never felt so close, mere atoms away from each other. "YOUR UNIVERSE WILL BOW BEFORE HIM!"

Taken Knights spawned on the plates, locking them down. Eris and Ikora killed their Knights as quickly as they could, and just as Jess was about to the kill the third, Alak-Zul slammed his sword down at her. She moved out of the way just in time, the sword inadvertently slicing through the Knight like it was butter. Cayde distracted the Warpriest as Eris, Jess, and Ikora jumped onto their plates in that order. The Hunter Vanguard staggered the Warpriest with his Ace as he approached, Ikora dropped down to the floor with the Brand of the Initiate, meeting with the other Guardians, and Eris shouted, "ATTACK!"

Alak-Zul lashed out with his sword, deflecting every bullet and fireball that he could. Ikora charged up her largest Nova Bomb to date and lobbed it straight at the Warpriest. The Bomb exploded into his chest, ripping a large hole where his heart and lungs were, sending them flying into the back wall, shattering it to reveal another Rupture, another portal. He screamed so loud that it almost shattered their ears, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Dreadnaught rumbled and whined. The portal opened up and Oryx's voice boomed throughout the Basilica, "YOU GUYS ARE STARTING TO ANNOY ME! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT THIS IS WHAT THE UNIVERSE NEEDS!? A FRESH START WITH A NEW GOD!?"

Eris ripped the sword from Alak-Zul's hand, watched it shrink, and weighed it in her own. "The Hive rever the Sword-Logic above all else, but if we could master it..."

Silver eyed her carefully, "What are you doing?"

Eris pulled out a rugged scout rifle frame made of bone, marrow, and fangs, attached the sword to the frame like it was a bayonet, and answered with, "Fulfilling a dead man's wish."

"Come on, guys!" Silver shook her head and shouted, "We're on the clock!" They rushed through the portal and landed on the other side.

* * *

Ir Halak and Ir Anuk floated on their pedestals in the long Threshold, praying to keep the ethereal prison above them stable. "Will they come, oh sister mine?" asked Ir Halak.

"Worry not, oh twin of mine," replied Ir Anuk, "Your Unraveling and my Weaving will make short work of the Universe."

"I wasn't worrying, my other half, I am anticipating."


	22. Godslayers

Commander Zavala sat in his chair inside the Vanguard room, briefed by Lord Shaxx about the insurrection. "Sir!" the Crucible Handler said, "Cass had conducted a prison break that's now turned into a coup d'état! The slums, the closest sector to the prison, are completely overrun by Cass, and now her eyes were set on the whole City!"

The Vanguard Commander slouched, his hand rubbed his eyes, a clear sign that he was annoyed. He called for his lieutenant, "Sloane!"

A burly Titan with dark gray hair walked into the room, "Yes, Commander?"

"I want you to reign in the police force and bring back every single Guardian to the City."

"I already tried, and you won't like what I have to tell you."

Zavala sat up, "Go on."

"Sir, the police department has its own war between its cops; half of them remain loyal to the City's laws, while the other half are siding with Cass and her promise of full control over the City's courts and Consensus, most of them being deputies and gun-nuts. As for the Guardians out on patrols and strikes, they've either returned to the City to be completely divided by this insurgency, or they haven't yet acknowledged their orders."

Zavala sighed, "As if things couldn't get worse." He turned to face the large window overlooking the mountain range, looking at the massive storm clouds that now covered the Last Safe City. For a moment, he thought he saw something in the clouds, but dismissed it as his imagination.

Then lightning flashed across the sky, thousands of warship silhouettes were outlined by the flash. Zavala recognized them as Cabal ships, rose to his feet, and shouted, "Everyone with me! NOW!" The Vanguard Commander raised a Ward of Dawn away from the window, Sloane and Shaxx directed the civilians working in the room to take cover in the massive Void bubble.

The warships sent a barrage of missiles at the window, shattering it and demolishing the Vanguard room, but they didn't stop. Barrage after barrage, the missiles continued to batter and destroy the Tower, forcing Zavala and the others to drop the Ward and retreat to the Plaza.

The warships advanced past the Tower and began attacking the defenseless City with missiles. Cass looked up at the Cabal and grinned, "Today and forevermore, the City is ours!"

* * *

Eris led the Fireteam down a couple of winding corridors before reaching a large abyssal hallway, with only the walls to keep the side floors stable. This room was built on a 45-degree slant, but everything in the room (aside from the pillars and walls) was horizontal. Silver looked down into the abyss, almost falling into it as she ran into the hallway. "Where to now?" she asked.

Eris pointed to their left, Silver followed her finger to find a distant doorway on their side of the abyss, high above the hallway. "We go up."

Ikora eyed the barely visible platforms between them and the doorway, but couldn't find a path, "How!? The walls are friction-less and the platforms have too much space between them!"

"Follow me," Eris traced a path along the narrow floor with her feet, leading Silver, Ikora, Cayde, Kaden, and Jess along the wall. They reached an enormous space between platforms, about 20 feet wide, and Eris jumped into the abyss. Ikora called out her name, but Eris Morn didn't fall; instead, she landed on something solid, floating, and invisible. She grinned, then motioned for everyone to continue. Ikora took her leap of faith next, discovering that the platform Eris landed on could turn visible as soon as someone was within range. "The Hive have been known to conjure tricks such as these, but we must not be afraid."

Silver sighed as she followed Ikora, "Noted."

Eris led everyone across the abyss and up to the doorway, only for the six Guardians to be greeted by a giant black wall with engraved runes. Eris stepped toward the wall, placing a hand on it, then closed her eyes...

* * *

_Auryx stood in the dining hall of his Throne World. Gathered at the table were his sisters, Xivu Arath and Savathun, his children, Crota, Ir Anuk and Ir Halak, Xivu Arath's sons, Alak-Hul and Alak-Zul, and Savathun's daughter, a wizard named Balwur. "My sisters, our children," he addressed, "A toast," everyone raised their own golden goblets, each filled with Eliksni blood, "To our crusades and to the High War!"_

_"Amen!" they said and they drank the blood. Crota took the bread and the corpse of an Eliksni Captain from the center and broke off one of its limbs. Ir Anuk took the serving plates and helped herself before her sister claimed her share, and so did the plate circle around the table, with Xivu Arath and Savathun claiming the lion's share._

_Then two Acolytes appeared from a corner of the hall, struggling to hold, at each end, a long plate with a lid on top. "Your Highness!" they cried._

_Auryx rushed over, took the plate, and went back to his seat at the head of the table, and said to the Acolytes, "You may go." He lifted the lid and tossed it to the side. On the plate was the dead Kell of Stone, Chelchis. The Hive King dug in, and so did everyone else._

_Suddenly there was a rumble throughout the Throne World, followed by a soft mechanical whirring. Everyone stopped eating and paused, waiting for something else to happen. The whirring grew louder and louder. Everyone rushed for their weapons and ran into the study, where hundreds of Precursor Vex appeared out of a hole torn through the fabric of Space-Time. The Hive King and his Ascendants stopped, every Vex unit turned its head at the group, analyzing each of them to the slightest detail. Then their eyes turned from blue to red and they attacked._

_Auryx led the charge and began beheading each and every robot in the large study, only to discover that it just enraged them. Just as everyone was about to be overwhelmed, Auryx slammed the ground with his hand, causing every Vex unit to burst. "WHO LET THESE INTERLOPERS IN MY HOUSE!?" he bellowed._

_No one answered._

_"I WON'T ASK A SECOND TIME!"_

_Ir Anuk called out, "Crota!"_

_Ir Halak continued, "He tore a hole in the Universe with his sword, trying to prove-"_

_Auryx didn't need any explanation as he charged towards his panicked son, picked him up by the legs, stomped over to the hole, and shouted in Crota's face, "EITHER COME BACK VICTORIOUS OR DIE FORGOTTEN!" Then he hurled his son into the Vex Gate System, sealed up the hole completely, and turned back to the Dining Hall._

_Savathun was impressed, "You have done well, brother!"_

_Auryx clutched his fist, charged toward his sister, and clutched her by the throat. "YOU DID THIS!" he_ _shouted, "YOU TOLD CROTA TO OPEN THAT HOLE! YOU SUGGESTED THAT WE SHOULD HAVE A VICTORY DINNER! YOU WANTED ME TO CAST MY FAMILY IN DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS! THIS WAS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He tossed her out of a window, where she warped into her own Throne World. Auryx did the same thing with Xivu Arath, but not the other children._

_Balwur said, "Well, Uncle Auryx, it's been fun. I'll just depart-"_

_"You're not going anywhere!" he said sternly, "All of you are staying here!" The Hive King lowered his voice, "I thought that I could trust my sisters after so long," then he raised it, "Now I realize that I can't trust any of my siblings, but I can take their children," he turned to look at them, "We are going to be one big happy family!"_

_Alak-Zul shivered, Alak-Hul hid his gritting teeth, and Balwur grimaced._

_Auryx declared, "And we shall start with a Dreadnaught!" without considering the pain that his niece and nephews might feel._

_Ir Anuk and Ir Halak disappeared, and immediately the Throne World began to quake, bleeding dark energy from the cracks and crevices. Auryx held onto the other children and everyone was brought to the Threshold: a long, open roof, windowless room that sat at the peak of Auryx's Throne World, serving as his personal bedroom, study, and battle room. Here, the Universe displayed itself as one massive star chart and Auryx could exercise his navigating skills. The Threshold was very cathedral-like and symmetrical on two axes. In each quadrant was a large raised plate, and to either side of the plate was a pool. Marking the border between the front and the back were two tall pillars that had the same radii as the plates._

_The Twin Deathsingers were on top of the pillars, crafting their songs of unraveling and weaving, and effectively creating a Dreadnaught by inverting the Throne World and causing all of the outside 'blood' to harden into a Hadium/marrow composite. Then the Dreadnaught began to rise out of the Ascendant Realms and into the material Universe._

_Auryx congratulated his Deathsingers, "Well done, my daughters! Well done!"_

_Just then, the Worm known as Akka flew into the Threshold, "JUST WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?"_

_Auryx stood before Akka and bowed reverently, "I have learned my lesson, oh Worm God mine," he said, "I know what He wants me to do: Fight every nation, every person, every planet until only The Hive and His Darkness remain."_

_"Then you know everything about the Sword-Logic," replied the Worm._

_"That," said the Hive King, "and more," his tone more defined and threatening as he stood._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"The worms that you gave to me and my sisters continue to eat at our souls, even as we conquer and kill worlds. So we made a tithing system: Thrall to Acolytes, Acolytes to Knights and Wizards, Knights and Wizards to Ascendants, Ascendants to the three of us, and us to The Dark Lord and His Worms._ _" The Hive King placed more emphasis on his last sentence, "_ _But every time we kill, we chew up a small portion of their souls to feed our worms."_

_"Exactly. So what is your point?"_

_"Our worms are hungry for more, more souls, more power, more...devotion."_

_Akka was confused and raised his head as such, "Devotion? What do you mean?"_

_"I need more disciples, more people who are or will be devoted to my cause, who are willing to fight other nations and sacrifice their lives for me! And I need more than just Hive, I need mindless zealots! I need people who are Taken!"_

_Akka bellowed_ _, "YOU, AURYX, KING OF THE HIVE, ARE OVERSTEPPING YOU'RE-"_

_Before he could finish his sentence, Auryx flew up to Akka's height and chopped off his head. As he landed, the Hive King said, "And I need your blood to do just_ _that."_ _Auryx buried his sword into the dead heart, allowing it to marinate in the Worm's blood. Then he took some of the blood from inside the neck and spoke some dark incantations as he knelt, "Raza ili cushak. Raza ili Nazdur. Raza ili contaz rakshi." He stood and raised his voice so that the whole grotto could hear, "Raza ili cushak!. Raza ili Nazdur!. Raza ili contaz rakshi!" Then he bellowed for the universe, "RAZA ILI CUSHAK! RAZA ILI NAZDUR! RAZA ILI CONTAZ_ **_RAKSHI!_ ** _"_

_The Worm exploded into flames, Auryx caught some and channeled it through his body, inverted it with the blood, and turned it into a dark crystal, a crystal that began to form Ecthar, the Willbreaker. "Through this power, I no longer kneel as a servant of a god, I have become one!" He shouted to the fabric of time and space, "I AM ORYX, GOD OF THE HIVE AND THE TAKEN! SOON, EVERYONE WILL BOW BEFORE ME, AS DISCIPLES OR SLAVES!"_

* * *

Eris withdrew her hand from the wall and gasped, "This is His Throne World!"

Silver ran over to Eris, helping her stand upright, "And what does that mean?" The wall began to crumble behind them.

"It means that we CAN kill Him here, permanently!"

Ikora interrupted, "I'm sorry, Eris, but long ago, I thought you said that Hive Ascendants are stronger in their Throne Worlds."

"And I stand by that statement," Eris continued, "However, where they are their strongest, they are also their most vulnerable. If we can remove His worm, His power, and destroy it..."

Silver finished her sentence, "...we could permanently kill Oryx and end his Hive!" She pounded her fists together, "Let's go!"

The runed wall had dissolved by this point, revealing a circular staircase leading to the top of the Dreadnought. Following the stairs, the Guardians found themselves in the Threshold, the Altar of Oryx, the Dreadnought's helm. Their view of Saturn across the open windows and roof was opposite their entrance, contrasted only by the candle lights on the walls and floors, and by the dark vacuum of space outside. The Twin Daughters of Oryx, Ir Anuk and Ir Halak, floated above their pillars, their hands folded into prayer. Between them was a small jet black orb of Darkness, an orb that Eris recognized. "They're in there!" she said, "Max and Shin are in that prison!"

Silver eyed her suspiciously, "How do you know this?"

Eris turned to face Silver and stared her down with all 3 of her Hive eyes, "Because my Fireteam was trapped in a cage like that, before their souls were reaped."

The Daughters laughed, "And soon, Max and Shin will suffer the same fate!"

Silver gritted her teeth, "But why!? Why kill someone who barely did anything wrong to you?"

"Because they're heretics," Ir Anuk cried aloud.

"And as for 'barely did anything'," Ir Halak shouted, "Max Prodigy killed our brother, has slain our cousins, nieces, and nephews, and feels no remorse for the pain he has caused! As such, we sentence him and his girlfriend to death!" The Deathsinger raised her voice, "And you all shall join them!"

Silver felt her body twinge, getting lighter as her world went from color to black and white. "HELP!" she shouted, "I'm being torn apart!" Her armor and body turned into a translucent outline, a living three-dimensional shadow.

Taken Centurions and Acolytes spawned in, populating the smaller pillars surrounding the Deathsingers. Cayde made quick work of the Taken on the right, Ikora annihilated the Taken on the left, and Eris asked Silver, "Do you see anything?"

The cyborg Hunter could barely speak, but her dim voice called through the dimensions, "Yes! Above us! I see it!"

High above one of the smaller pillars, a pulsing and flickering orb floated in the air, begging for Silver to reach it. Ir Anuk howled in terror, "NO! YOU WILL NOT STEAL OUR POWER! SERVANTS! DESTROY THEM!"

More Taken Cabal spawned in the Threshold, just as Ir Anuk sang her Aria of Unraveling. Silver stood on the pillar below the orb, spawning three ascending platforms leading to the top-right quadrant of the Threshold. She jumped up to the first platform, only to watch it disappear, then asked, "Can someone else stand on this pillar?"

Cayde jumped up to the pillar, allowing Silver to ascend up the platforms. Ikora, Eris, and Kaden jumped onto the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pillars respectively, creating a spiral leading up to the orb. Taken Centurions shot at the Guardians, trying to knock them off the pillars, but Jess was quicker with her Void Grenades, tossing them at the Taken Cabal, vaporizing them. Silver grabbed the orb, and as she did, her body began to materialize into reality again. Remembering what Ir Anuk said, Silver rushed over to the singing Deathsinger and punched her in the head.

The Unraveler groaned, then felt the cold vacuum of space against her skin. Shocked by what happened, she turned to face her attacker, only to find that the Hunter had stolen her Brand! "AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!" she screamed, "GIVE IT BACK!"

Silver retreated to the back, everyone else followed her, then on Eris's orders, shot down Ir Anuk. The Deathsinger screamed her last, the Brand of the Unraveler disappeared, the ethereal prison shrunk and began to warp, and Ir Halak screamed in anger, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT! YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!!" Then she began to sing her own song, the Hymn of Weaving. 

Silver was torn again, but found the orb above the bottom right pillar, and directed everyone to their new places. Taken Cabal began to appear one more time, Fireteam Omega stood on their pillars in the correct order, and Silver ascended up the counter-clockwise spiral one more time to steal the orb. Her body once again materialized into reality, and she stole Ir Halak's Brand of the Weaver. The Deathsinger screamed in rage and shot flurries of dark energy at the Guardians, Silver rejoined her teammates, making sure they could share the Brand's power, and together, they killed the last child of Oryx. Ir Halak screamed just like her sister as she dissolved into nothing, her cloak floated down to Eris.

The ethereal prison disintegrated, Max and Shin were dropped from their high places, screaming as they fell. "WAAAAAAUUUUGGGHH!!!"

Ikora used her Void Light to catch them in a net, cushioning their fall, "I got you! Don't worry!" She gently lowered the net, letting Max and Shin get down to the ground.

At first, they were shocked as to where they were, but that feeling subsided when they saw Silver leading Fireteam Omega. Max asked as he approached, "Silver? What happened? Why are you here?"

"We're here to rescue you," she answered.

The Warlock nodded, "Ok, cool." He looked around the Threshold and asked, "How long have I been in this place? An hour or two?"

"Time is immaterial to the Darkness," Eris answered, "Even we don't know."

"Well!" Cayde piped, "I'd say you two are late for dinner, so how's about we get out of this place, go back to the City, and get some spicy ramen? My treat!"

A scream carried itself throughout the Threshold, despite it having no atmosphere. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU ALL TORE UP MY THRONE! KILLED MY CHILDREN AND PRIESTS! STOLE MY TRIBUTES!" A giant 3 fingered hand grabbed the right side column in the front, followed by another hand grabbing the left side, "YOU PRANCE AROUND SLAYING MY FOLLOWERS, AND FOR WHAT!? TO REACH ME!? TO FINALLY KILL A GOD!?" Oryx lifted His giant head and body up in front of the Threshold, blocking the Guardians' view of Saturn. He floated in the vacuum of space and drew his giant Sword, Ecthar the Willbreaker, and bellowed, "YOU STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST TRUE POWER!! I WILL TAKE ALL OF YOU! AND WHEN I'M DONE, I WILL TAKE THIS UNIVERSE AS ITS ONLY GOD!!!"

Taken Thrall began to flood the Threshold's floor, starting from the puddles surrounding the pillars, encroaching on the Guardians standing in the center aisle. Max and Shin immediately ran back to their Fireteam, "What's the plan?"

"Plan!?" Silver exasperated, "Against Oryx!? I thought you could slay gods!"

"Not alone!" Shin replied, "And besides, we just got out of that prison!"

"So no one has a plan to save the Universe!?"

Max answered with, "We didn't have a plan for killing Crota, yet here we are in a world without a Hive Prince!"

Ikora and Cayde took turns shooting down the Thrall from each other's sides. Eris began clutching her forehead, groaning under the mental weight of keeping Oryx out of her mind. Shin said, "I suggest that we move up!"

"Are you crazy!?" Silver shouted, "We don't have a plan to kill Oryx, and you're suggesting that we get closer to Him!?"

Oryx moved to the right side, floating towards the front pillar, and drew His Sword.

Eris wailed, "He is preparing to sacrifice! Stop it!"

Shin asked Silver, "You have a different plan? No? Then let's move up!"

Oryx slammed Ecthar into the pillar horizontally, charging it with some form of Dark Energy. Without hesitation, Max ran to the pillar and stood on it, absorbing all of the energy into himself. "AUGH! IT BURNS!" he screamed as his body was torn.

Silver shouted, "LOOK ABOVE YOU!"

Max saw an orb floating high above him, "I see an orb! But what is it?"

Silver jumped on the plate with him, spawning the first set of ethereal platforms, "Grab it, then steal a Brand. That's all I know."

Cayde, Ikora, and Kaden jumped on their plates in a counterclockwise direction, spawning more platforms up to the orb. Max began his ascent.

As Jess, Shin, and Eris guarded the aisle against the Taken, 4 Taken Ogres rose one by one from the inner puddles near the pillars, and 4 Hive Knights rose from the outer puddles wielding Bone Cleavers, their gazes set on the three Guardians. Eris screamed in pain, "They're here! The sacrificial Ogres and Knives are here!! Silence them! All of them!"

Shin and Jess shot down the Knights before they could reach the aisle, but couldn't kill the Ogres as quickly. They got pushed back by their eye beams, struggling to hold their positions. "OW! GUYS, HELP US!!"

The plate holders fired at their respective Ogres, killing all of them and leaving their corpses to dissolve. But instead of dissolving, the corpses liquefied themselves into big blobs of Darkness, not dissimilar to the ethereal prison that held Max and Shin. Max grabbed the Brand Claimer orb, then landed on the floor without pain. Another Knight spawned on the aisle, one armed with a Brand of Immortality; Max tackled the Knight, stealing the Brand and leaving the Knight vulnerable to the elements. Cayde fired a single shot at the Knight's head, then converged with the Fireteam in the aisle.

Oryx slammed the pillar again with His Sword, smothering it with black and white fire. Raising His free hand, the Hive God tithed His fingers to the pillar, the flames connected it to His hand. Silver noticed that His chest opened up and began to glow. Eris shouted, "Shoot Him! Shoot Him in the chest!" And they did.

Oryx lost his tithe and stumbled, "WHAT!? WAS!? THAT!?!? NO ONE CAN POSSIBLY HARM ME!!!"

A light bulb clicked itself to life in Max's brain, "Someone needs to go to the blights, we can turn His tributes against Him!"

"How!?" everyone else asked.

"By detonating them!"

Silver sighed, "I've heard worse." She, Cayde, Ikora, and Kaden went to their blights, confused on what to do next. "Now what?" She asked as she rested her back against the blight. It began to pulse uncontrollably in a physical response to the Light, and that shocked her enough to stand. "Oh! I see! We need to change their chemistry and make them unstable!" She pressed her hand against the blight, causing it to pulse again. "Everyone," she ordered, "your Light is the key! Touch the blights!" Cayde, Ikora, and Kaden all touched their blights, pulsing them until they violently began to burn.

Max shouted, "Back to the Brand guys! Shoot his chest again!"

Silver and the other three rushed back to Max's side, shooting at the Hive God just as the blights exploded. Oryx screamed in agony, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" and He fell down, disappearing from view.

The Fireteam looked over the edge for any signs of life, but initially found nothing. Suddenly, Oryx stretched out His hand and grabbed the edge of the Threshold, scaring the Guardians away and pulling Himself up. He drew His Sword again, but this time it was visibly cracked, just like the bone buckles holding His giant robes together. "MY DIVINITY WILL NOT BE DESTROYED BY EIGHT MERE MORTALS!" He spawned another ethereal prison on the ground, trapping all 8 Guardians in a Darkness Dimension.

Silver shouted, "Hey! Let us out!!"

"It won't be that easy," Max advised, "We tried that ourselves."

She huffed, "So how do we-"

Eris screamed, "BEWARE THE SHADOW!"

Max charged up his electricity in anticipation, Shin reloaded her Last Word, and Jess held a Vortex Grenade at the ready. An Echo of Oryx appeared on the wall of the Darkness Dimension, armed with a darker version of Ecthar in its right hand. The Echo roared and charged at the Guardians, slamming its sword down. Max shouted, "Scatter!" and they did just in time.

Eris whispered over and over again, "The Shade must die. The Shade is the lock. The Shade must die."

Shin overheard this and said, "Everyone! Focus your fire on the Echo of Oryx!" No one argued with her. Everyone loaded their next magazines into their weapons and began blasting away at the Echo. It roared and swung its sword again, aiming for Shin's head but missed. The Hunter fired her next 8 rounds into the Echo's head, killing it and dissolving the Darkness Dimension.

Oryx stared at the Guardians in shock and horror as they reappeared and His prison dissolved in His hand. "IMPOSSIBLE! I AM A GOD! NO ONE CAN ESCAPE FROM MY REALITY!" He pushed Himself away from the Threshold and bellowed, "THE HERETICS HAVE CHOSEN THEIR ONE FATE: DEATH!" He cast strings of exploding orbs at the Guardians, scaring them into the far corners of the Threshold, circling the pillars and running down the aisle and back. Frustrated, He floated over to the left side and slammed the pillar as quickly as possible, consuming it in flames.

Max was about to jump up, but Shin beat him to it. She absorbed the flames and screamed in agony, "I see- I see everything!"

Max, Kaden, Silver, and Jess stood on the pillars and lead Shin up to the Brand Claimer via the platforms. Ikora, Eris, and Cayde shot down the Ogres. But as she ascended, Shin saw something that Silver and Max didn't.

The Hunter walked through different visions, different realities, as she walked to the Brand Claimer, all describing humanity's failure at the hands of Oryx, Savathun, Xivu Arath, and the Hive. Xivu Arath built a government based on Sword-Logic, tearing down every civilization with military strength. Savathun's Silent Brood made thousands of churches, exalting the Hive as the perfect masters of the universe and condemning anyone who disobeys their code as demons. Oryx led this world with an iron fist, his own followers being the only politicians and businessmen. As for humanity, they were enslaved to eternal servitude, only for a select and random population to die daily, just like the other races. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Oryx's soothing voice asked, "A truly righteous world, with an infallible brotherhood leading the way."

She gasped at the sight of such tremendous evil, a sight that she, nor anyone else had ever seen before. No one else, except Max. "No! They are just visions! They aren't real! They aren't the truth!" She grabbed the Brand Claimer, and the visions began to burn into different visions: The City under fire, humanity locked in a war with everyone else, the Guardians burning all God-like imagery.

Oryx growled, "YOU KNOW NOT OF YOUR CONSEQUENCES! YOUR WORLD MUST HAVE ME AS YOUR ONLY GOD!!"

Shin materialized back into reality and stared straight into Oryx's eyes, "On the contrary, we're better off without false idols!" She slapped Oryx in the face, stealing his Immortality Brand, and landed on the floor with her own feet.

Oryx slammed His Sword into the front pillars, then into the back pillars, lighting all of them on fire. "IT WON'T MATTER! I WILL STILL WIN THE UNIVERSE!" He charged His tithes to the pillars, ready to slam Ecthar into the Threshold.

Max shouted, "FIRE!" The Fireteam emptied their magazines into Oryx's vulnerable chest, staggering Him and delaying His universal sacrifice. "To the blights! Detonate the blights!" Silver, Cayde, Ikora, and Kaden triggered the blights once again, then returned to Shin's Brand. Oryx screamed as He began to plunge Ecthar into the Threshold, through the Guardians. Just as the blade touched the Brand, the blights exploded, Ecthar was shattered, and Oryx screamed in pain and agony as he fell again.

The large crystalline core of Ecthar pinged the floor loudly, lightly bouncing itself until it leveled itself. Max approached the core carefully, its dark energy is still intact. "So this powered His Sword? A crystal?" He tried touching it, but it began to burn his arm, stretching its way up to his head. "AAAAUUUUGH!"

Oryx sickly climbed up to view the Guardians from the front of the Threshold, His robes now singed and His horns were broken, "YOU..." He coughed, "...HAVE...NO IDEA...WHAT THAT...CRYSTAL...IS..." He extended his hands over the front pillars, "NOR WILL YOU...EVER KNOW!" The fires grew higher to reach His fingers, but Shin was faster...

Dashing to the back pillars first, then to the front pillars, she used the Brand of Immortality to absorb all of the dark flames from the pillars, ignoring her pains from each pass. Then she grabbed onto the crystal and lifted it away from Max. The Warlock saw her screaming from the pain and said, "Shin! Don't!"

Oryx was stunned, "No being has ever suffered this much pain! How can a small creature like you do this!?"

Shin stopped screaming and aimed the crystal's point at Oryx's heart, "Because if I don't, I'd suffer from far worse!" She squeezed the large crystal shard and shot a dark laser beam at the Hive God, igniting Oryx's heart and worm.

Oryx screamed as He burned from the inside out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Then in a giant flash, the Hive God exploded, his bodily parts flew in every direction as they disintegrated into atoms.

Shin fell to her knees, dropping the crystal and falling onto the floor. Max shouted, "SHIN!" He rushed over to her and patted her face, "Hey, come on! We got to go!"

She shook her head, "No. You need to go. Tell the City that it's over."

"That's not what I meant!" he cried, "I can't... We can't go on without you!"

"Of course you can. You have in the Before, you can now."

"No I can't! I can't live without you! I wouldn't have made it this far without you! I..." he sobbed, "I love you!"

The Hunter smiled, "I love you too, that's why I did this." She kissed him for her last few seconds, then she went limp.

Max cried, "No! Come back! Please! Don't be dead! Your Ghost can revive you! Right?" Then his wails turned into whimpers, "Right?..."

In the distance, Ikora got a radio message from Zavala, and she said, "We need to go now!"


	23. Epilogue: The Fall

Fireteam Omega raced back to the City, but everyone was still in grief. Silver began spinning her knife by the handle, trying to hide her own sadness; Shin was always kind to her, despite the circumstances on the team. Eris brooded more intensely than normal over her scout rifle frame; Shin was the only one outside of Ikora and the Hidden who would believe her, despite her occasional arguments. Cayde sat in the passenger's seat, fiddling with his Ace of Spades, distracting himself from his own loss; Shin was his protege, not his first, but certainly the smartest and the best, and by far the most formidable. Ikora piloted the ship back home, seeing as she was more stable than others, even she had a tear in her eye, a tear for a friend. Kaden hadn't known Shin for long, but from Jess's stories of her sister, he felt like he knew her enough.

As for Jess and Max, they were the most depressed. They had lost a sister, a significant other, and a good friend. Her unwavering love and loyalty to them was unparalleled, her belief in them bore the fruits of a raided Vault of Glass, an assassinated Hive Prince, a destroyed fascist, and a dead god. They carried her body in their laps, her Ghost looking at Shin from above. Gabriella squinted again and again at every inch of her body, trying to see if she can be revived. She just shook herself and said, "I'm sorry, I can't."

Max's voice came out as a whimper, "Why? Why can't you?"

"Two reasons: I need to be closer to the Traveler to resurrect her, and even if I was, I can't guarantee that she'll be a Guardian."

"Can't guarantee it? Why not?"

"The Dark flames mixed with the Hive Brand and crystal have tainted her body. If the Light could revive her, she would either explode mentally or physically. It would take a miracle to save her."

Max bent his head down, "I should've done this. I should've killed Oryx."

"Then the result would be the same."

"But she would still be alive!" he barked at the Ghost, "We lost a friend, and it's my fault!" The Warlock bent his head again, "It's all my fault."

Jess rested a comforting hand on his back, gently massaging it, "No, it's not."

"But it is! I was supposed to protect her, keep her safe, and I didn't."

Silver sighed, "Now you know how I feel."

"Except you never blamed yourself for Shiro's sacrifice," Max mumbled.

Silver huffed, "But I did. I asked myself if I could've taken his place, if I'd held onto him longer at the very least," then she sighed, "But there's nothing I could've done that would've saved him. And if I did, we wouldn't be here, and Erik would have launched an attack by now." She approached Max and sat next to him, "Our loved ones did not die in vain."

The Warlock smiled faintly: he acknowledged her wisdom, but couldn't recover completely yet. Silver smiled back, knowing his expression.

Eris was busy staring at her scout rifle frame; before leaving the Dreadnought, she picked up the Deathsingers' shrouds and Oryx's worm carcass, placing them into the crevice of the frame. The shrouds drooped over the sides, and the carcass hovered inside three rotating rings in the middle of the frame. The scout rifle emanated dark emotions, all attaching themselves to the corrupted Guardian. _This touch of malice,_ she thought to herself, _though it may bring back horrible memories, it also empowers me._

Ikora flew the ship back to Earth, but when she approached the Alps, the mountain range protecting the City, her eyes widened at the sight of giant, black storm clouds surrounding the perimeter for miles. "Where's the City?" she asked, "Why is it surrounded by storms, when everywhere else is sunny?"

Cayde looked at the storm clouds in shock, "I dunno, but we need to get down there, STAT!" He turned to meet the others, "Hold on to somethin'!" Ikora steered the ship down into the cloud, everyone held on for dear life, and when the ship was level again, everyone saw the City under attack. Thousands of Cabal warships hovered over the walls, houses, the Tower, and around the Traveler; the houses in every sector were burning, and something has latched onto the Traveler, extending its 6 arms around the sphere as if to strangle it. Ikora steered towards the Tower, but the radar beeped a warning: 3 red blips were drawing closer to the center at alarming speeds. Before Ikora could say "Brace for impact!" the missiles exploded on the engines, sending the aircraft spiraling into the Vanguard room of the Tower.

Everyone got out as soon as they crash-landed, and Silver asked, "Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?"

"No," they all said.

"Then let's go!"

Max wouldn't budge, "What about Shin?"

"Don't worry about her, we need to move!"

"But we should give her a proper burial!"

"And we will! But right now, we have a City to defend! So let's defend it!"

Max sniffled, quietly kissed Shin's forehead one last time, then got out of the ship. The eight Guardians ran through the decimated Vanguard and Crucible rooms, only to find their pathway to the plaza blocked. One horrible shriek later, the entire Vanguard room had fractured from the rest of the Tower, taking the ship down with it. Max turned and shouted, "NO!" then just stared at the massive view in tears, "no...shin..."

Jess just hugged him as he collapsed to his knees, "Max, it's okay. It's okay."

The Warlock then closed his eyes, breathing in and out deeply, another storm was brewing in his heart, "Enough," he whispered.

Jess was confused, "Huh?"

Max opened his eyes, now glowing light blue from the Arc Light, his sadness had turned into anger and he announced, "I've had enough. Shiro and Shin died to protect this City, they gave us the chance to fight another day, and I'm not going to waste it by moping or raging against friends. I'm going to fight, because that's what I've been doing, and it is what I'll continue to do!" He stood up, wiped away his tears, and faced his team, "I'm ready!"

The wall to his right exploded, revealing three marching Cabal Legionnaires, armed with electric shotguns and new armor depicting a pair of square arches, one inside the other. Cayde drew his Golden Gun and shot them down, vaporizing them. "You guys go on ahead!" he said, "My gun and I'll have a short date with whoever is in charge!" He ran through the wall and shot down more Cabal soldiers with his Ace of Spades.

Ikora led the Fireteam through an opening in the other wall, Eris trailing behind them. When they reached the next room, Lord Shaxx called out, "Ikora! Good to see you!"

"Shaxx," she replied, "What's the situation?"

"Zavala's in the plaza, the Speaker is on lockdown, and I'm escorting citizens out of the Tower."

Ikora eyed the group, "How many civilians are in this group?"

"150, Reddrix is feeding them to me, and Amanda and I are escorting them into the Jumpships."

"When's the next run?"

"Since you're here, right now!"

Eris tried to object, "Now see here-"

Max just rushed through the doorway and started blasting electrical bolts at Cabal Legionnaires. "Come on, guys! We're wasting daylight!"

Eris stared at Max with confusion, then looked at Silver for an answer, "How-"

Silver shrugged, "I don't know why he's like that, but I'm guessing grief makes us bolder."

The Warlock charged through two rooms full of Cabal with his storm trance, but upon reaching the third room, a Centurion blasted him away with a Void Cannon. Max's back hit the wall hard, almost killed by the blow; but what stunned him more was the Centurion: _He's wielding a weapon powered by the Void!? How could the Cabal harness such a thing!?_ He didn't wait for an answer, Max ran back into the room and shot a lightning bolt at the Centurion and his cannon, frying both.

Shaxx led the citizens into the Hangar, where more Cabal were waiting to ambush them. He fired two shotgun shells into the foot soldiers, the third reacted to his comrades' deaths by whipping out a new plasma shield, extending it into a giant 90-degree arch encapsulating the soldier. Shaxx almost dropped his jaw. Eris blasted the middle of the shield with her scout rifle, lowering the arch and forcing the lone soldier to retreat. A split second later, and Jess would blast the soldier with a Nova Bomb.

After Silver cleared the Hangar of Cabal, she asked her Ghost to scan the Legionnaires and try to match them with any known Cabal. His response was dry, "No. These insignias don't match any Cabal we've met before. But, their comms..." he paused, "It doesn't make sense, they're all using new codes on top of old ones."

Max was puzzled by that too, "That doesn't make sense, anyone knows that you can only have one active comms code at a time, unless..." he approached the dead Cabal and ripped off its helmet, fiddling with the inside to look for anything tinkered in, "...ah-Hah!" The Warlock ripped out an antenna, "An add-on!"

"An add-on?" Shaxx asked, "What on Earth for?"

"For communications! These Cabal had old stations, old company names, but someone has united them under a new banner! New communications!"

"Meaning?"

Max's expression turned gravely serious, "Someone else is in control, and they want the Traveler!"

"And this new Cabal faction? What do we call them?"

Silver briefly scanned the dead Cabal, "Well, they're wearing red armor, and they're a new legion, so I'm calling them the Red Legion."

Kaden shrugged and signed, "Works for me."

Zavala's voice broke through the comms, "Fireteam Omega? Ikora? Anyone copy?"

Ikora quickly replied with, "We're here, Zavala, in the Hangar."

"Get to the plaza immediately! More survivors are crawling out of their homes, and the Cabal are onto them!"

Ikora pointed at Silver, "You, Eris, and Kaden stay here with Shaxx, escort everyone to their ships, then get on the last ship out of here! Jess, Max, and I are heading up to the plaza!" Then she addressed Zavala, "Commander, we're on our way up now." The Warlock Vanguard led the other two Warlocks through a tunnel of wreckage leading to the plaza, and upon arrival, laid eyes on a ghastly scene.

Max looked at the Traveler in absolute horror, "What that thing!? The thing choking the Traveler!?"

"I don't know," Jess replied, "But we have more pressing issues, like the fleeing civilians!"

4 giant drop pods were launched from a warship, landing on the Cryptarch's old shop, the post office, and the weaponry vaults. The pods' shells broke away, releasing 2 Legionnaires and 1 Phalanx per pod, and all 12 Cabal marched toward the running civilians.

Max charged again, flashing lightning bolts and tossing Storm Grenades at the soldiers, frying them into crisps. The civilians ran quickly to the Hangar, thanking him as they passed. 4 more pods dropped into the Plaza, Ikora and Jess quickly escorted the stream of civilians away from the broken balcony leading to a nasty fall, through Zavala's barricades, and through the tunnels leading to the Hangar.

As Max dealt with the Cabal, two of the warships in the distance launched a barrage of missiles at the plaza. Zavala raised his Ward of Dawn and shouted, "Fall back to my position!" Everyone ran to meet the Commander inside his Ward, but the missiles hit the plaza before 10 civilians could reach it. When the smoke and dust cleared, Max and Ikora gaped at the corpses. Max turned his attention to the warships, teeth gritted and seething with rage. The warships prepared to launch another barrage, but Max had stretched his Arc Light as far as he could let it, electrifying the missiles and causing them to explode right in the tubes, ripping apart the sides of the ships and sending them careening into the empty City streets.

Silver spoke through the comms, "Ikora, the last of the ships have launched, but...Shaxx's logs have no mention of the Speaker."

"We'll go find him," the Warlock Vanguard replied, "Just stay with the civilian shuttles."

"Roger," Silver's line turned off.

The Warlocks raced down to the Tower North, the little area surrounding the Speaker's office; however when they arrived, they saw that the office was gone, reduced to mere rubble, and the Speaker was nowhere to be found. Surrounding the cavity of Tower North were a line of Legionnaires, marching around the area. Ikora took one good look at the cavity and the Cabal, and gripped her hands into fists, Void Light bathing her arms in rage. She launched two Nova Bombs at the Cabal, atomizing them.

A stunned Jess asked "Ikora! What's wrong?"

The Warlock Vanguard gritted her teeth, "Speaker Alamo is gone! His office is destroyed!" She sighted a Cabal fighter ship heading toward them and shouted, "YOU PICKED THE WRONG WARLOCK TO MESS WITH!" and launched another Nova Bomb at the ship's nose, destroying its cockpit and pilot, then rode the crashing ship down.

Jess shouted into the comms, "Ikora!"

"Don't worry about me! I'll go find Alamo, you two need to get on the command ship!"

"How!? It's far from our reach!"

"Amanda Holliday is going to pick you up," Zavala answered, "meet her in the back, past the shops."

Following his instructions, Max and Jess tore through more Cabal and reached the balcony in the back of Tower North. Amanda Holliday arrived on cue, "Someone call for a ride?"

"Yeah," Max said, "We need to get to that command ship. Can you take us?"

"Well," she clicked her tongue, "I can't take you both. Only one of you."

Jess was struck, _But Guardians work in teams! Why can't-?_

Max interrupted her thoughts, "I'll go."

Jess stared at him with wide eyes, "What!? Are you insane!? Going to the command ship alone is suicide!"

"And my Ghost can rez me back to life, I can do this."

Jess didn't wait for him to respond, "No you can't! Not like this!" She knew all she needed to, "This is not how we honor Shin's death!"

"Shin sacrificed herself to keep the City out of Oryx's hands," he barked, "and I must make that same sacrifice."

"But that's not why you're doing this!" Jess shouted back. Max stumbled as his fellow Warlock continued, "You're doing this because you think you can't live without her!" Max slumped in response. "You are a Godslayer, Max. You and Shin, except now she's gone."

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"And if the Godslayer is killed by some petty Cabal, how would that look to the City? To humanity?" She rested a hand on his shoulder, then sighed, lowering her voice, "I'm sorry, but the City needs you as their symbol, their beacon of hope. And if push comes to shove, you're the only one mad enough to pull off a stunt such as reclaiming the City." Jess turned back to the ship and said, "I'm ready." Amanda beamed her aboard, leaving Max alone to be with his thoughts.

The Warlock briefly cried and uncoupled his helmet to let his tears fall with the rain. Wiping his eyes, he said, "For Shin," attached his helmet again, and rose to his feet. He walked down 15 flights of stairs and zapped incoming Cabal soldiers without a problem. Then disaster struck...

* * *

Jess and Amanda flew their ship up to the Cabal command warship, evading fire as they flew. Amanda took a look at the Traveler outside the cockpit window, "Come on, big guy. Do something for us."

As always, the Traveler didn't respond.

Amanda maneuvered her ship up to the Cabal warship; as she approached, the warship's shields were made visible to her ship. She avoided the shields by a hair, scraping her ship's tail in the process, but managed to get Jess on board the warship. "Alright, Jess," Amanda finally said, "Time to kick them in the nuts!"

Jess dropped onto one of the warship's front prongs and advanced up the ramp, going in the opposite direction of the launching pods. Cabal drop pods were being flung out of the ship's nose via a halved magnetic tube attached to the prongs, and every time a pod was launched, the ship's force field opened itself to let it slip by. Jess watched as the field opened itself in a wide mouth, then closed itself after the pod had passed through. She waited in front of the field at the right time, then passed through the opening.

Inside the warship, the decor was minimal but flashy, polished metal walls and thick tubing running along creases and dipping into walls, floors, and ceilings at 45-degree angles. The windows were just large rectangular holes in the walls, with transparent force field barriers separating the interior from the outside. The first room that Jess entered was the launching bay; Cabal soldiers stopped loading themselves into pods when they saw a Guardian invade their ship. Before they could arm themselves, Jess lobbed scatter grenades at all of them, then ran to the nearest console.

Her Ghost scanned it and said, "Ok, the shield generator is just at the bottom of the warship." Jess ran through hallway after room and hallway, killing soldiers as she passed, reaching the roof of one prong at the end. It was surprisingly empty, and pointed straight at the Traveler, now chained up entirely by the Cabal's mysterious legged device.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice from behind. Jess turned around quickly to find a giant Cabal dressed in white and gold armor, with red fabrics hanging on his gauntlets and back plating, and 2 sheathed white wings glorified his back even more. What was more disturbing about this Cabal was his disfigured face; his pale white skin had numerous burns over his eyes and scalp, and a black face mask covered whatever horrors lay in his mouth. Behind this Cabal stood two fully armored and decorated Centurions, his Blood Guard. The white Cabal pressed a button on his remote and announced, "Welcome to a world without your Light!"

The 6-legged cage generated a force field, trapping the Traveler and its Light inside. Jess felt her Light fade, and she fell to the floor. Her Ghost fell out of her pocket, dormant and cold. "Ghost?" she whispered, "Wake up! Please!"

The Cabal stepped to the side, revealing an all too familiar face advancing toward Jess. Cass was now decked out in bronze Cabal armor from shoulders to toes, but her lion's head hammer remained the same, the gold and bronze sickly glowing against the ambient light. Jess stared at her ex with widened eyes as she covered her Ghost, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks.

Cass scowled at Jess with disgust, "Do not look at me, Jess!" The Corrupted Titan slammed her hammer down onto Jess's hand and Ghost, crushing both. Jess cried uncontrollably, but that just aggravated Cass even more: the Titan kicked Jess towards the edge of the ship, but she still advanced with unparalleled hatred. "You are weak, undisciplined, cowering to your walls, your leaders."

Jess shouted back, "You were a Guardian, Cass! And my girlfriend! What happened to you!?"

Cass stood over Jess, hammer in hand, ready to strike again, "Max Prodigy happened, and I will destroy him!" The Titan slammed her hammer into Jess's skull, crushing it completely and setting her headless corpse ablaze, before kicking it over the edge into the abyss below. Cass turned back to her new master and bowed, "Dominus Ghaul, we have finally won the City!"

* * *

Max fell to his knees, and felt something leave his body. He pulled out his Ghost, "Raiden, status?"

"I don't know, Max," the Ghost said, his voice beginning to fade, "But something is wrong." Then the Ghost fell to the ground.

Max pocketed Raiden, then tried lifting himself up. He descended down a few more flights before he reached the ground and walked outside. Cabal were standing over citizens and Guardians, guns raised to the humans' heads, barking incomprehensible words through their helmets. The powerless Guardians raised their hands up in fear, over their faces and their neighbors' faces. Max heard them crying for mercy, for life. But he soon learned that the Cabal had no mercy: The Guardians were slain, executed on command, and a third of the civilians too. Those that were spared were locked into collars, had numbers burned and etched into their arms.

Max tried reaching out to the Storm, rage pumping through his veins, but nothing came to him. No Storm, no Light, no hope. He turned away, exiting the City stealthily, and with a heavy heart, _What am I going to do now?_

**TO BE CONTINUED IN** **"DESTINY: THE RED WAR"**


End file.
